Attorney General Eric Holder has decided to wade into the D.C. school choice debate. While he probably only meant to get his toes wet, a request Holder made to former D.C. city councilman Kevin Chavous at a recent event to pull a television ad in support of the Opportunity Scholarship program has made a big splash. In an interview with the Weekly Standard, Chavous noted that he is friends with Holder and his wife, and didn’t see the comment as an official administration request. Nevertheless, Chavous told the Weekly Standard:
I saw [Holder] at an event…He did ask me in front of others to pull the ad. My response was, ‘No, and I tell you what, if the President does the right thing, not only will we pull it but we will celebrate him’.
The ad in question features Kevin Chavous and a young student who is one of 216 children who recently had their scholarships rescinded by the Department of Education. In the ad, Chavous discusses how President Obama is ending the scholarship program, which provides scholarships of up to $7,500 to low-income children in D.C. to attend a private school of their choice. The young student in the ad asks the President to voice his support for the scholarships.
The Weekly Standard writes:
The nation’s first black president has come under intense criticism for failing to support the program that is helping poor African-American students escape some of the nation’s most dangerous and worst-performing public schools. After embracing the teachers unions’ anti-voucher stance, the president now finds himself in the uncomfortable and awkward position of denying students access to a program that has strong bipartisan, local support, and that multiple studies say is helping poor African-American children succeed.
Instead of trying to silence the school choice community in D.C., here’s a better use of Holder’s time: watch Let Me Rise: The Struggle to Save School Choice in the Nation’s Capitol. This compelling mini-documentary will help him understand why school choice in D.C. - and the educational future of 1,700 low-income children - is so critically important.
According to the Fox News White House blog:
The White House says that the President has decided to give the approximately $1.4 million prize accompanying his Nobel Prize to charity. They have not made a decision on which charity or charities will receive the money.
Here’s an idea for the President: He could give the 216 low-income kids back the scholarships that his administration took away from them earlier this year.
On April 6th of this year, after Democrats in Congress voted to end the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sent letters to 216 low-income D.C. families telling them that the federal government was rescinding the scholarship awards that the families had already been awarded earlier in the year.
Obama’s prize money could give $6,800 to each of these 216 children (the original voucher was worth $7,500). That amount would likely put each of the 216 well on their way to attending a safe and effective school. The average scholarship ends up being around $5,000.
President Obama and his administration are very familiar with the empowering benefits school choice brings to families struggling to educate their children. Growing up in Chicago, Obama’s Secretary of Education Arne Duncan attended a private school. Growing up in Hawaii, President Obama attended a private school. Growing up first in Chicago, and now in Washington, Obama’s two daughters attended and still attend private schools.
In fact, two of Obama’s daughter’s classmates are able to attend Sidwell Friends thanks to the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program.
President Obama has a great opportunity to right a grave injustice he inflcited on 216 school children earlier this year. He should use his Nobel Prize money to give the same opportunity to 216 D.C. school children that he has already provided for his own daughters.
Visiting Fellow Virginia Walden Ford co-authored this post.