NEOAVATARA

credit: Mary Katherine Ham

Barack Obama, after taking an immense amount of heat regarding the voucher program in the Washington, D.C. school district, appears to be ready to flip-flop on the issue. This came after Reason TV made an excellent documentary, which can be seen here, showing the advances students in the program have made recently.  Voices of School Vouchers has also been active in this pursuit.

This corresponded with a relatively large protest in DC in support of vouchers on Wednesday, which numbered in the thousands.  This included almost all of the students getting the vouchers, their parents, and including dignitaries such as Former Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, recording artists Ginuwine and Mya, council member Marion Barry, and activist Virginia Walden-Ford.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjxCZELbAqg

That said, this is only a partial victory.  Candidate Obama said he would stand up for voucher systems, as did his Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.  Both failed miserably once in office.  Additionally, the current Obama reversal is only for the approximately 1,800 students in the program, until they graduate high school; no new students will be admitted.

The logic here is absurd.  First, if Obama believes that the program is terrible, he shouldn’t let these students continue.  If he thinks the program is worthy, then why not let new students into the program?  There is no intellectual process apparent in Obama’s decision making.

The reality is Mr. Obama cares little for these students, and much more for labor union support.  In a March 6, 2009 letter to Obama, the NEA president Dennis Van Roekel called the D.C. program “an ongoing threat to public education in the District of Columbia” and urged Obama to “use your voice to help eliminate this threat” by opposing “any efforts to extend this ineffective program.”

Mr. Obama should take a principled stand, instead of flailing to the political wind.  If the program is really unfit to educate students, stand up and say so, even though evidence says otherwise.  If the program is worthy of millions of dollars a year, renew it to full force.

Please, President Obama, stand up for the students instead of special interests.