I would like to apologize for writing this blog, reporting that the US Department of Education had committed to implement the Washington, DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. My optimism that public officials in the Obama Administration will uphold the rule of law staggers me sometimes… When will I ever learn?
According to a blog that Education Secretary Arne Duncan posted yesterday, it looks like his Department will continue to selectively refuse to implement federal law and disrupt the DC voucher program. He notes:
“You may have seen a few stories yesterday that left a misleading impression that the Obama administration changed our position on vouchers. That’s not true. As we said yesterday, our focus is on making sure all students get a world-class education. The best way to do that is by reforming our public school system. Despite the agreement to allow a modest increase in the number of students admitted to the DC voucher program next year to comply with a Congressionally-mandated study, there has been absolutely no change in policy.”
This blog is as ambiguous as it is patronizing.
He says nothing about the law and how his Department is implementing the program that the President signed into law. He does not mention that he is knowingly choosing to not implement the law, but he makes it pretty clear that the law does not rule the actions at DOE.
Reforming the public school system will take years at best. Arguably, the traditional public school system is so inherently flawed and broken that it is in disrepair. Whether it takes ten years or an eternity to fix, the Obama Administration has chosen (again) to deny economically disadvantaged parents in Washington, DC the right to make good education decisions for their children today.