Posted on by Californiacontrarian

OMG … OSP Gone!

I am going to assume that most of you do not remember Betsy DeVos. To refresh your memory, she was the education secretary in the last administration. Assuredly those of you who lean to the left have probably ignored just about anything that she said in the past, because of who appointed her to be education secretary. That’s politics and I get it. 

(I am trying my best to make this essay totally non-political, because this subject should be totally non-political.) 

Actually I do not recall much about Betsy DeVos, but I just came across something that she had said. Something she felt strongly about … namely that parents — not politicians or government bureaucrats — know what their children need to succeed academically. 

Now I ask you to attempt to blind yourself politically. Can anybody disagree with that? Is there anybody reading this that thinks otherwise?

President Obama, whose own daughters attended Sidwell Friends for $40,000 per year, was able to choose the school which he felt was best for his children. Now, not everyone has forty grand a year to spend on el-hi school, but he was the President and could afford it. Moreover, as a parent, he knew what his children needed to succeed academically.

With this background, let me introduce the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), which was created by Congress in 2004 after local parents organized an effort to provide education options for low-income parents. 

Now the Biden administration plans to phase the program out in 2023. That would allow current students to finish at their current schools and prevent new students from enrolling in the voucher program.

This decision would prevent some parents’ younger children from participating in the same program that rescued their older children from failing schools. Those choices matter in a city where less than 30% of black students are reading and doing math at grade level. … Let that sink in -<30%!

OMG! Help me understand how this makes any sense. OSP does not need to have an infrastructure set up … it has already been functioning for almost twenty years. It has been hugely successful. So why phase out this program? 

Does Biden’s decision have anything to do with the teacher’s unions. Duh!!

The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, signaled what it wanted the president to do about school choice prior to last year’s election. It recommended opposing the expansion of charter schools and eliminating D.C.’s voucher program in its policy playbook for the incoming Biden-Harris administration.

The irony is that nationally, public schoolteachers send their own children to private schools at a rate twice as high as the national average.

What does the public think when it comes to school choice?

A RealClear Opinion Research poll found majorities of both Republican and Democrat voters support school choice.

74% of voters support school choice, including 83% of Republicans, 70% of Democrats, and 69% of independents, according to the poll, which was conducted in June.

A majority (66%) of both Republican and Democrat poll respondents also supported giving public education funding directly to parents, rather than the education system, “to use for home, virtual, or private education expenses.”

“These results represent a marked increase in support for school choice since similar polling was conducted in April 2020,” a statement from the American Federation for Children (AFC) pointed out. “Overall support has increased from 64% to 74%; public school parent support has increased from 68% to 80%; Democrat support has increased from 59% to 70%.”

“Public support for school choice is at an all-time high. And, as the nation recovers from unprecedented, nationwide school closures, a new story is unfolding,” said AFC CEO Tommy Schultz. “Parents are rising up and demanding the freedom to choose the best educational environment for their children,” he said.

Biden’s recent action on OSP seems counterintuitive to public opinion.

So basically the hell with the kids. Hey Joe! … politics as usual?

OMG … OSP gone with a mere wisp of Biden’s pen!

I would have the inclination to call J.B. a ‘gigolo’ … except that he is far far from young!

8/3/21

123 Replies to “OMG … OSP Gone!”

  1. Dan, I couldn’t agree more with you on the school choice issue. A good education is the answer to ending the most appalling systemic, albeit racist issue in this country. That is, trapping predominantly Black and Latino inner city kids in failing schools.

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