42 Senators Vote To Continue Failed Educational Program
The DC Opportunity Scholarships program had constitutional problems from the start. It violated the separation of Church and State by redirecting public money, through an act of the US Congress, into the accounts of organizations with the explicit goal of converting American children to a particular form of religious worship. The program also violated the constitutional requirement of equality for all citizens under the law by providing public funding of educational programs that engaged in discriminatory hiring practices.
Some people might dismiss those serious legal flaws with the DC Opportunity Scholarships. If the program helps children get a good education, it’s worth violating the highest law of the land, they might say. However, reports on the results of the voucher program have shown a consistent failure to help students in need.
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate voted on whether to continue the failed educational program. Supporters of maintained funding for educational failure tried to slip an extension for the DC Opportunity Scholarships into an amendment to an unrelated bill ( S.Amdt. 3456 to S.Amdt. 3452 to H.R. 1586 ). They failed.
The 42 senators who voted in favor of pouring money into this unconstitutional, failed educational program were:
Lamar Alexander – John Barrasso – Christopher Bond
Scott Brown – Sam Brownback – Jim Bunning
Richard Burr – Saxby Chambliss – Tom Coburn
Thad Cochran – Susan Collins – Bob Corker
John Cornyn – Michael Crapo – Jim DeMint
John Ensign – Michael Enzi – Dianne Feinstein
Lindsey Graham – Charles Grassley – Judd Gregg
Orrin Hatch – Kay Bailey Hutchison – James Inhofe
John Isakson – Mike Johanns – Jon Kyl
George LeMieux – Joseph Lieberman – Dick Lugar
John McCain – Mitch McConnell – Lisa Murkowski
Bill Nelson – James Risch – Pat Roberts
Jeff Sessions – John Thune – David Vitter
George Voinovich – Mark Warner – Roger Wicker
Many public school graduates today cannot successfully count beyond ten without removing their shoes and more than a few public school teachers have the same challenges.
I went to Catholic schools and received a good education and was well guided into adulthood.
Zeal to separate church and state should not result in failure to educate.
Apparently, Bill, your education wasn’t effective enough for you to learn the difference in quality between anecdotal evidence and studies that are based upon a large statistical base. Educational studies that are based upon a large statistical base indicate that Catholic schools don’t provide an education that’s superior to public education.
The underlying premise of your argument doesn’t hold.