If I had a son…

With those words, the President sought to assure African-Americans that he truly cared about them, and would do all he could to improve their lives. But, oftentimes, actions speak louder than words.

First, you need a bit of background.

Washington D.C.’s Opportunity Scholarship Program has released its latest data on student progress in that landmark voucher program. A remarkable 97% of its students graduated from high school in the 2011-2012 school year—a 4% increase from the two previous years. This compares to a D.C. public schools graduation rate of 55%. More than 90% of parents say they are happy with their voucher child’s academic progress, and applications exceed slots for the coming school year by nearly 3 to 1. [emphasis supplied]

But, the President wants to kill this program.

In his 2014 budget, the President has allocated nothing for the D.C. voucher program, this, in spite of the fact that each voucher costs taxpayers less than $9000 per year, while taxpayers pay $18,000 per year per student for a public school education.

With a high school diploma, young African Americans have a chance to climb out of the projects that politicians have condemned their parents to…they have opportunity, they have hope.

Without a high school diploma, these children have nothing.

Can anyone explain why the President, whose two children go to private school, wouldn’t want other African American children to have the same opportunity?

And, more to the point, if the President truly cared about young African Americans as he proclaims he does, why would he deny them their best chance to succeed?

 

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SoundOffSister

The Sound Off Sister was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and special trial attorney for the Department of Justice, Criminal Division; a partner in the Florida law firm of Shutts & Bowen, and an adjunct professor at the University of Miami, School of Law. The Sound Off Sister offers frequent commentary concerning legislation making its way through Congress, including the health reform legislation passed in early 2010.

19 Comments

  1. bien-pensant on July 23, 2013 at 7:55 am

    …because, he truly does not care about anyone except himself. He has his. He is not a uniter, but a divider. He and the democrats, need a permanent underclass to vote for the leftys.
    Even though the voucher program worked well, too well, I’d bet that the D.C. teacher’s unions pitched a fit about job losses. It’s just not fair that 5,000 black and Hispanic students get vouchers of $7,500 to go to a private school. Of course they are going to perform better.
    “Students currently enrolled, an estimated 1,300, will be allowed to continue until they graduate from high school. But for reasons that have more to do with opposition from teachers unions than what’s good for children, no new students are being accepted. Education Secretary Arne Duncan last year signaled the program’s demise by rescinding scholarships already offered, and congressional Democrats refused to reauthorize the program.” Wapo
    “If I had a son … he would go to private school just like his sisters.” said Obama off…



  2. stinkfoot on July 23, 2013 at 12:03 pm

    Funny how the unemployment rate for his most loyal constituency has gotten markedly worse under his watch… young black males, like Treyvon Martin.? I get a strong sense of design with all this demagoguery… they want something to erupt from the masses to justify a major response that is ready and waiting.



  3. sammy22 on July 23, 2013 at 1:01 pm

    Somehow I don’t get the point(s). The link is about something that was voted down in 2010. Now for 2014 the President should have proposed funding for a program that was eliminated in 2010??



    • bien-pensant on July 23, 2013 at 7:48 pm

      It was not voted upon, the very successful program for deserving D.C.students was not funded for continuation in 2014. The only people hurt by that is approximately 1300 students in D.C. It was objected to by the education unions. A purely political decision.
      I
      Why was that?
      ?
      *Why quibble about the date of the article? All of these blatantly pandering political decisions start somewhere. With this regime, the reasons are usually the same.*
      ?
      ?
      ?



    • Jeremy In Farmington on July 24, 2013 at 9:18 am

      I wonder if some liberals have trouble understanding why someone might post background information because liberals are completely oblivious to history.



  4. Lynn on July 23, 2013 at 8:45 pm

    Honestly, I can’t answer your question. ?It is incomprehensible to me. I have never known anyone who is either so illogical or is so lacking in compassion in my whole life. ?Has anyone checked to see if he is really a Borg or not. Apologies to Star Trek.



  5. Vizionmusic on July 23, 2013 at 8:51 pm

    The only thing that disgusts me MORE than Obama.. are the people who STILL support him!



  6. sammy22 on July 23, 2013 at 9:34 pm

    Lynn, if you are referring to me, take a read at the link that bien-pensant gave above. I can assure that I am more compassionate than you give me credit for. And, I am glad to see that you are willing to spend other people’s money (when it suits the narrative put forth by SOS).



    • Lynn on July 24, 2013 at 7:50 am

      Sammy, the question in SOS’s post is referring to The President. I was answering her question about the President. I don’t even know you Sammy and would never presume to judge someone by what they write here. Now that I have a second chance, this country wastes millions on education and we are failing at it. One of the reasons is the Unions because teachers become entrenched and can’t be let go even when they are horrid. Second reason is the money wasted on luxurious ?buildings ?which does nothing to educate the kids, the third reason is an excess of administration, and on and on.



    • Dimsdale on July 24, 2013 at 12:14 pm

      If they are going to spend other people’s money, then it should be half as much for better results, as in this program ?bama wants to yank away from poor black families that really like it.?? DC has one of the worst dropout rates combined with one of the highest costs per student.
      ?
      That is just a lousy “bang for the buck” for the families of children that go there, and the president and his union cronies like it that way.
      ?
      If you want to see people spending other people’s money, look at how the liberals tax poor schlubs like me who want to have my children get a better education at a parochial school.? I still pay the bloated school tax, AND the tuition to go to private school.? Why can’t the money follow the children, instead of simply going to the greedy maw of public school administrators and unions??? There will be plenty of time to take my money for the public schools when my children have graduated from K-12.



    • sammy22 on July 24, 2013 at 12:46 pm

      I don’t disagree with your take, but that was not the take of SOS’s post. Do you really believe that such funding (which had already been eliminated years ago) would have made it through the House and for that matter the Senate?



    • Dimsdale on July 24, 2013 at 6:46 pm

      Well, if it is up to the Republicans, yes; the Democrats, no (including new independent Joe Lieberman).? The “take” of SOS’s post is that ?bama does not want to renew this successful and money saving program, and the last sentence summarizes the post very succinctly and accurately.?? As for the timing, I direct you to this sentence:
      “In his 2014 budget, the President has allocated nothing for the D.C. voucher program, this, in spite of the fact that each voucher costs taxpayers less than $9000 per year, while taxpayers pay $18,000 per year per student for a public school education.”



  7. sammy22 on July 24, 2013 at 11:48 am

    Lynn, I agree with you.



  8. sammy22 on July 25, 2013 at 11:21 am

    Dims, the do-nothing-Republicans could step up to the plate and allocate the funds if they really wanted to. The “take” in SOS’s post is simply to take a pot-shot at the President.



  9. bien-pensant on July 26, 2013 at 7:43 am

    They could propose funding this program in the D.C. budget. I don’t know that they haven’t. Do you?
    The democrats signaled quite emphatically that the program was dead to them. Even students who had been accepted to the program were told it was not in existence any more.
    Congress controls the D.C. budget, they don’t have local control of their own tax monies. Yet.
    The democrats control the Senate, and a democrat controls the WH. This refusal to fund and continue this program is squarely at the door of the democrats and Obama. This is a purely controlled democrat response to the education unions’ complaining about an otherwise successful program. Simple as that.



    • sammy22 on July 26, 2013 at 11:01 am

      Still the Republicans could do something about it, but it would cost money. Hence, no action.



    • bien-pensant on July 26, 2013 at 12:57 pm

      Will someone else try to explain this?
      I am sensing a willful lack of understanding, a failure to recognize facts, and a deep desire to blame Republicans, any Republicans, when it was democrats who threw these children under the bus.



  10. JollyRoger on August 1, 2013 at 3:06 pm

    If Obama pushed grandma off the cliff, it would be because the republicans didn’t do something, or they took his eye off the ball with fake scandals, or he pushed her off the cliff to spare her suffering because the republicans were going to steal her social security and leave her in an alley eating cat food! ?



Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., speaks about race during an address in Philadelphia, Tuesday, March 18, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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