Reprinted from The Washington Times , 5am -- May 21, 1998
TOP POLITICAL STORY
Clinton vetoes D.C. tuition vouchers
By Paul Bedard
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
President Clinton sided with teachers unions yesterday and vetoed legislation that would have given 2,000 poor children in Washington, D.C., free tuition at private schools, saying it robs cash from the city's dilapidated public schools.
In a short veto message, Mr. Clinton said the program "would pay for a few selected students to attend private schools, with little or no public accountability for how those funds are used, and would draw resources and attention away from the essential work of reforming the public schools that serve the overwhelming majority of the District's students."
The message, issued without any further comment from Mr. Clinton, heavily pushed his alternative program to fund public school construction projects.
"Although I appreciate the interest of Congress in the education needs of the children in our nation's capital, this bill is fundamentally misguided and a disservice to those children," said Mr. Clinton, who sent his daughter to the exclusive, private Sidwell Friends School in Northwest Washington.
Republicans who supported the bill said the president was robbing a good education from the city's poor children.
The legislation passed by an eight-vote margin in the House earlier this month, making a veto override attempt difficult. But House leaders said they would try to pass the legislation again.
"It says a lot about the character of our president that he would stand in the schoolhouse door and deny the District's most vulnerable children the opportunity for a decent education," said House Majority Leader Dick Armey, an ardent backer of school choice.
Polls showed that most poor families backed the measure, which was opposed by Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District's nonvoting House delegate.
Mrs. Norton said she opposes using public money for private schools but applauded efforts by Mr. Armey and private businesses to provide scholarships for poor students to attend private schools. "Children should not be a captive of the public schools," she said.
More than 7,000 low-income families in the District have applied for scholarships for their children. A private fund this month awarded 1,002 scholarships, and the legislation pushed by Mr. Armey would have provided another $7 million for 2,000 more children.
The issue is a major element of the Republican agenda to empower parents in areas with inadequate schools.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich said, "I find myself wondering, what are liberals afraid of?"
He said Mr. Clinton "is keeping the children of our nation's capital literally trapped in failing schools, where they can't learn. This bill is about whether or not 2,000 children have a chance to go to college instead of being destroyed by bureaucracies that refuse to reform."
The legislation would have allowed families who earn about $16,000 or less to receive up to $3,200 to be used for tuition at any local public or private school.
It was opposed by Bruce K. MacLaury, chairman of the D.C. Emergency Board of Trustees, and by the National Education Association, which contributed heavily to the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign.
"It is a gimmick," NEA spokeswoman Kathleen Lyons said before Mr. Clinton's veto. "[Republicans have] just wasted a lot of energy on something that's not going anywhere."
Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson said the veto showed that the president chose the NEA over poor kids. "Chelsea shouldn't be the only kid from public housing to graduate from a private school," he said in a reference to the president's daughter.
Mr. Clinton has pushed for a different education agenda, moving to set aside money for public school construction and hiring more teachers -- a responsibility and cost commonly the chore of local governments and taxpayers.
He has also championed funding for charter schools and national testing standards, and he has involved himself in local school issues such as calling for all grades to implement uniform requirements. Sidwell Friends has no such requirement.
Mr. Clinton used his five-paragraph veto message to push his agenda.
"If we are to prepare our children for the 21st century by providing them with the best education in the world, we must strengthen our public schools, not abandon them," he wrote.Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
To subscribe to the Washington Times National Weekly Edition, click this icon or call 800-363-9118.
