Over the weekend, the Washington Post editorial page continued its support of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program—comparing President-elect Obama’s position on school vouchers with his family’s experience of choosing a school in the nation’s capital:
Let’s hope the experience of moving his girls and finding the place where they will flourish resonates with Mr. Obama so that he reexamines his stance on the District’s voucher program. How is it right to take away what little choice there is for needy D.C. children? The scholarship program wasn’t intended to replace Washington’s public schools, and it doesn’t lessen the urgency of improving them. But it does give some poor parents an opportunity taken for granted by better-off families, who can pick their residency based on school district even if they can’t afford the most elite private schools.
We join the Post in hoping that this experience leads the President-elect to have a change of heart on school choice. If not, he won’t be the only elected official in D.C. to choose private school for his own children while opposing offering the same benefit to other family’s kids. Heritage’s 2007 survey found that 37 percent of Representatives and 45 percent of Senators responded that they had sent children to private school. Yet many of the same members have voted to deny disadvantaged families the power to choose the best school for their children.
