Early last week, a modest school choice bill backed by Del. Jimmie Massie was voted down 9-6 in the Senate Finance committee. Among those voting to kill the measure was Sen. Henry Marsh, III, a long-time power broker in Richmond Democratic circles. So what remedy does Sen. Marsh propose for helping kids trapped in failing government schools? Continued state funding of public broadcasting.
In a Style Weekly editorial, Marsh writes that PBS is a core state function because of its educational programming. It “help[s] educators and parents challenge children outside the classroom,” and gives teachers materials they can use in their classrooms.
It begs the question: if state funding for PBS is so important, indeed so critical, why not shift funds away from the schools and into broadcasting?
But let’s consider the Senator’s love for Elmo and Grover in a different context. Last year, when Gov. Bob McDonnell made a push to reform Virginia’s sclerotic charter school law, so that more of these experimental – and public – schools could be created, Marsh and the Legislative Black Caucus likened it to Massive Resistance. And also last year, when Del. Massie first brought his education tax credit before the Senate Finance committee, Sen. Louise Lucas equated it to “selling children.” Some of McDonnell’s changes eventually passed. Massie’s remain a pipe dream.
That’s a shame – both for the kids who might benefit from alternatives and for their parents, whose tax dollars continue to fund a system that treats their children like cogs in a great, if deeply flawed, machine.
And to ensure those cogs don’t get wise to their plight, Marsh and his cronies want to keep pouring tax dollars into public television. Plopping kids in front of the tube for their “Barney and Friends” fix is much easier, and offers more opportunities for control, than letting them go to better and possibly private schools.
The education establishment and its political enablers wouldn’t have it any other way.
