Et Tu, Laura?: Bush Push For School Vouchers Is A Family Affair

We wrote on Tuesday about President George W. Bush’s renewed attention to school vouchers. In his State of the Union, Bush proposed $300 million in “Pell Grants for Kids” and said he’d organize a White House summit to save “faith-based” schools.

Bush’s wife Laura and younger brother Jeb have also enlisted in the offensive.

First Lady Laura Bush promoted her husbands new Pell Grant plan when she spoke at Holy Redeemer Catholic School in Washington, D.C., yesterday. Holy Redeemer, incidentally, is a beneficiary of the District of Columbia’s federally funded voucher program.

Mrs. Bush acknowledged that Holy Redeemer was slated to close last year, and spoke at length about a partnership with Notre Dame that was the school’s saving grace. The Alliance for Catholic Education trains and places Notre Dame graduates in inner-city Catholic schools; it’s basically a privately funded “Teach for America” for Catholic schools.

Intentionally or not, she described a perfect way to preserve Catholic schools without government’s help.

It really is a swell idea. Religious communities can rally around their sectarian schools, and taxpayer dollars can go back to supporting public schools. Public schools, after all, exist to serve children of every religion, race, economic status and ability. They are where the government’s attention belongs.

Ah, but we know the Bush family doesn’t think much of public education. As governor of Florida, Jeb Bush was known for his efforts to make vouchers stick. He was unsuccessful thanks in large part to a state Supreme Court decision striking down his pet project in 2005.

The younger Bush hasn’t let his exit from the governor’s mansion deter his policy plans, though. He remains on the National Assessment Governing Board, which was established by Congress to examine and promote school reform, and has founded two separate organizations to cement his mark on the Florida education system.

According to the Associated Press, a constitutional amendment supported by Bush would undo the 2005 Supreme Court decision and lift a constitutional ban on direct or indirect grants to religious organizations and institutions.

The proposal is stewing in a Taxation and Budget Reform Commission committee now, but could be on the ballot this November.

A recent Palm Beach Post editorial admonishes Bush’s foundations for not being open and honest with Florida voters. Everyone knows, the editorial said, “that they could never win approval of a constitutional amendment that said this: ‘Florida taxpayers shall provide tuition vouchers for K-12 students to attend private schools, including private religious schools.’”

Voucher proponents instead choose benign, even positive, sounding language like “freedom to choose among public and private providers of public services.”

What that flowery language doesn’t tell you is that you could be footing the bill for someone else’s kid to get a “faith-based” education.

By Lauren Smith