Obama Blocks LA's Voucher Program

I give the Obama administration high marks for its courage and bold action on ed reform, but one glaring weakness has been the unwillingness to embrace carefully targeted voucher programs like the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. The administration has given itself a further black eye in this area by filing suit to block Louisiana’s voucher program, which is benefitting thousands of students, 86% of whom are black. Below is an excellent article by ed warrior John Kirtley, who writes: “On the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s great speech, a black U.S. attorney general working for the nation’s first black president filed a lawsuit to halt a program that is helping low-income black families in Louisiana choose a better school for their children.” Here’s a blurb from the LA Federation for Children:

Baton Rouge, La. (Aug. 24, 2013) – The American Federation for Children, the nation's voice for educational choice and its state affiliate, the Louisiana Federation for Children, today strongly condemned President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder for seeking to limit educational options for the children of Louisiana. A motion filed by the U.S. Dept. of Justice seeks to prevent the state of Louisiana from offering school vouchers to children in school districts with existing desegregation orders for the 2014-15 school year unless the state receives otherwise authorization from the federal court overseeing the desegregation case.

“President Obama's assault on educational options is unprecedented and directly impacts low-income families who have the right to high-quality educational options," said Kevin P. Chavous, executive counsel to the American Federation for Children. "We remain committed to fighting for children and ensuring those trapped in failing schools are not left behind."

A 2013 survey from the Louisiana Federation for Children and Black Alliance for Educational Options showed that nearly 93 percent of parents are happy with their child’s scholarship school. In addition, the Louisiana Scholarship Program has both the strongest and most transparent financial andacademic accountability standards among scholarship programs in the nation.

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And here are past articles on this topic by Kevin Chavous (1, 2, 3)