House Speaker John Boehner Saturday called on President Barack Obama and the Senate to support the Washington, D.C., school choice program, saying that "education ought to be the civil right of the 21st century."
"It is the only program in America where the federal government allows low-income families to choose the schools that are best for their kids," the Ohio Republican noted in this week's
GOP address. "As parents, as Americans, we want nothing more than to see our kids go to the best schools."
The DC Opportunity Scholarship program was created through a bipartisan house effort in 2003. Since then, 6,100 students have received scholarships to attend better schools, and last year, 90 percent of the seniors in that program graduated, marking a much higher graduation rate than average in the city.
"Our approach gives equal support to public schools, charter schools, and these low-income families, but the unions and the education establishment in our country see school choice as a threat," said Boehner. "More than once, the Obama administration has tried to eliminate the program altogether."
This week, the House voted to renew the program for another five years, and Boehner said he hopes the Senate will follow suit.
"If you have the resources, you already have school choice," he said. "You can send your child to whatever school you want. But if you’re poor, and stuck in a bad neighborhood, your child won’t have that chance. To me, that’s just fundamentally unfair."
He admitted the bill won't solve all school problems, but it's still a chance to do something to make a difference for children, "and if we can make this work here, we can make it work anywhere."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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