DC Schools: A Conservative Solution

An Opportunity for Conservatism to Prove Itself

Our politicians have condemned the kids of DC to the same shabby schools they refuse to send their own kids to.

The Federal Government's defunding of the DC voucher program provides a chance to demonstrate how effective conservatism can be in everyday life: Conservatives can step in and help parents raise money from private sources to restore the DC scholarships that the Democrats, at the behest of the teachers unions, are snatching away.

Juan Williams over at FOX News Provides some background on just how effective the program was:

The students, almost all of them black and Hispanic, patched together the voucher money with scholarships, other grants and parents willing to make sacrifices to pay their tuition.

What happened, according to a Department of Education study, is that after three years the voucher students scored 3.7 months higher on reading than students who remained in the D.C. schools. In addition, students who came into the D.C. voucher program when it first started had a 19 month advantage in reading after three years in private schools.

Here's my admittedly simplistic conservative plan of action:

1) Raise money. $12.85 million per year will replace what the government snatched away. How can generous conservatives make that up? Start a tax-free tuition fund that people can contribute to. We should be able to raise enough money by Fall 2009 to pay or offset the tuition for all the kids abandoned by our government.

2) Get the DC kids' parents and family involved in this enterprise. Community organizing should not be the exclusive domain of liberals.

3) Turn the entire project over to the DC kids and their families. These good people have shown they care about their kids. Give them the seeds of a powerful organization and watch them grow it!

4) Enjoy the sight of people taking control of their own lives even as government abandons them. What an example this would set for others all over the country who are in similar circumstances.

Links:
Juan Williams Article
Washington Post