He just will not stop. Last night in his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush continued his war on church-state separation and
In a 53-minute address that may well be this administration’s swan song, Bush demanded, among other things, that Congress make his “faith-based” initiative permanent and also fund a new program for religious schools.
Bush touted his dubious No Child Left Behind Act and an existing federally funded voucher program in the
“[T]o open the doors of these schools to more children,” he said, “I ask you to support a new $300 million program called Pell Grants for Kids. We have seen how Pell Grants help low-income college students realize their full potential. Together, we’ve expanded the size and reach of these grants. Now let us apply that same spirit to help liberate poor children trapped in failing public schools.”
“Pell Grants for Kids.” That’s what Bush calls his latest voucher scheme. Well, vouchers are just as wrong whatever you call them. In referendum after referendum, Americans have rejected vouchers in various forms and under various names. Studies repeatedly suggest that vouchers are not an effective way to improve academic performance.
And most importantly, vouchers subsidize religion in violation of the principle of church-state separation. Taxpayers must support our public school system; they should never be forced to subsidize religious indoctrination.
President Bush apparently disagrees.
Notice that last sentence of his in the statement above; it’s particularly vicious. He wants to “liberate poor children trapped in failing public schools.” What gall! Public schools in many urban areas struggle to educate children from desperate environments. Children often come to school from homes with too little income, from families that suffer from a variety of disadvantages and from neighborhoods beset by drugs and violence.
It is shameful to deride these beleaguered public schools – “failing” institutions that “trap” poor children — instead of addressing the larger issues that make their jobs so difficult. I’m certainly not saying that all inner-city schools do a great job – or even that they are all doing as good a job as they can – but it is a gross dereliction of the president’s duty to abandon those public schools and the children they try to serve.
Bush also promised to hold a White House summit to promote “faith-based” and other private schools.
“Sadly,” Bush said, “these schools are disappearing at an alarming rate in many of
There you have it.
It’s maddening. When will this reign of error be over?
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