Congress tells DC voucher students to take a hike

The issue did get some attention, including this editorial and this one -- oh, and this one too -- from the Washington Post, but Congress appears to be ploughing ahead, doing the bidding of the teachers unions. D.C., probably the most expensive government school system in the country at $14,000 per student per year, and one of the poorest in terms of academic achievement and violence, has had an Opportunity Scholarship program since 2004, with about 1,800 students in private schools this year thanks to a $7,500 voucher program. Of course the teachers unions hate voucher programs with an intensity verging on the monomaniacal.

So as this Register editorial explains, the $410 billion omnibus spending bill didn't authorize reauthorization of the program, through a tricky maneuver that keeps some fingerprints off the dastardly deed. So a number of poor and minority kids who were on the road to getting past certain handicaps will be screwed by the politicians. It's "for the children," after all.