Students Use Vouchers to Flee D.C. Schools

Rus: BEST WAY TO START MY DAY! YES YES YES!!!

For me, it's where so much good (and awfulness) began -- fighting for vouchers, Proposition 174, in California. So early this morning, this news just brings fast brief tears to my eyes -- of joy.

And right on up to the nearly the last moment before my move, I was working with a woman in Oakland who was fighting the school district -- why? To protect her son. Someone who knew of my past involvement in "education" issues.. had the woman contact me... In fact, the "someone" is someone who heard me speak in Oakland on vouchers, years ago. 1994. Or was it earlier.. Time for some java.

Bullies not only in the pub ed system, but the teachers aren't much better (some of them). By law, these teachers assert they are unable to protect children from BULLIES. How can any child learn in a situation like this? And since Dem Ed policies trend toward serving educational "meat" at the lowest common denominator.. this causes troubles, encourages trouble for children. Children get bored. And further, under the feminist-revised school system (catering more to girls than boys) -- boys get into a lot more trouble!!! And sure enough, it is always Dems screaming about HIGH PRISON RATES -- especially for males. And especially in inner-cities schools. And so, I could only see "schools" as early prison training for males. Created by Dems, run by Dems, complained about by Dems.

Considering how "intelligent" Dems think themselves are.. one might think the Dems could see this CORRELATION. Fact is, they don't care to see it.

Rambling... But here's the story!


WASHINGTON - As the school year begins, more than 1,000 students are using a new voucher program to escape troubled public schools in the nation's capital.

Officials running the nation's first federally funded voucher program said Wednesday the response was overwhelming. Seventy-four percent of students who applied for vouchers and were determined to be eligible are enrolled in participating private and parochial schools, and more applications are under review.

"We have 1,011 students that have been placed in 53 schools," said Sally Sachar, president of the Washington Scholarship Fund, the nonprofit group administering the program for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Department of Education.

Voucher advocates hope the experiment in the capital city, an idea debated in Congress for years before its passage in 2004, will energize the school-choice movement nationwide.

The Bush administration views vouchers as a way to empower parents and free students from struggling schools. Bush has proposed another $50 million for vouchers initiatives next year.

Critics, including Democratic presidential contender John Kerry, say vouchers strip money from public schools and funnel it to private schools that face little accountability.

Rus: So, John Kerry now supports the "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT"? The NCLBA is the first "pub ed" accountability standard put into place in as long as I can ever recall. Till this time, there has been no ACCOUNTABILITY IN PUB ED.

YOU GO!, DC PARENTS! FLY, SOAR!!! LEARN, CHILDREN.... GROW!! BE SET FREE FROM IGNORANCE AND EDUCATIONAL SUFFERING!

Oh yea.. My heart is soaring for them.