Siphons 'Public' Funding
School Unions Fail GOP Voucher Plan

By HOWARD MEGDAL

A bill introduced last month in Congress to spend an estimated $100 million on a national school voucher program is encountering fierce opposition from education unions.

EDWARD J. McELROY: An ideological boondoogle.

The bill, introduced by Reps. Buck McKeon (R-Ca) and Sam Johnson (R-Tx) in the House and Sens. John Ensign (R-Nv) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tn) in the Senate, would provide approximately 28,000 students in schools regarded as failing for at least five years by the standards of the Federal No Child Left Behind Act with up to $4,000 toward tuition at a private school or public school in another district. Up to $3,000 per student within those schools will also be available for additional tutoring.

Bad Time For Bill?

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said she supported the measure at a July 18 press conference with the bill's sponsors. The timing was awkward for Ms. Spellings, as her department had recently released a study concluding that after adjusting for socioeconomic conditions, public school students actually outperformed their private school counterparts in fourth-grade math and English and eighth-grade math, while only slightly underperforming in eighth-grade English.

When asked about the report, Ms. Spellings insisted she hadn't read it, then told the New York Times that "my philosophy on reports out of the Department of Education is that we shouldn't do it on a Friday."

American Federation of Teachers President Edward J. McElroy blasted the bill and Ms. Spellings in a statement, released after the press conference.

'Didn't Match Politics'

"It's got to be tough when a study's findings don't match up to one's ideological bent. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings was nowhere to be seen or heard last Friday afternoon when her department quietly issued its long-awaited report showing that public school students are doing as well or better than most private school students when socioeconomic measures are considered. And yet, just a few days later, Secretary Spellings was front and center in support of her ideological soul mates - Republican members of Congress - who held a press conference announcing legislation to provide federal dollars for private school vouchers," Mr. McElroy said.

The American Federation of School Administrators, which represents more than 20,000 Principals, Assistant Principals, and other school administrators, passed a resolution at the union's national convention in Las Vegas last month denouncing the legislation.

'Drain Resources'

"We will oppose that bill," AFSA President Jill Levy said in a July 25 phone interview. "There is nothing in vouchers, so far we can see, as being helpful to communities and educating children at all. What we do see is that public schools, at least here and in other areas, are under siege and under attack. We are seeing scores go up, and are convinced that if we put those resources in public schools as opposed to vouchers, we can make a great leap forward." Mr. McElroy added that he believes politics should be divorced from education policy decisions.

"We need to do what's been proven to work for public school students rather than push legislation that meets an ideological litmus test. Given the contrasting announcements from the department, a cynic might wonder whose side the Administration and Republican Congress are on," he said.