The pandering political class will eagerly tell you that lower-income children shouldn’t be allowed to go to the schools of their choice — even while sending their own children to private schools.
Why? To woo the deep-pocketed national teachers unions. In doing so, they betray lower-income families and their children, who are largely assigned to poor schools based on a five-digit ZIP code.
This week, Joe Biden announced his full-throated opposition to the notion that all families should get the opportunity to choose the best school for their children.
When we divert public funds to private schools, we undermine the entire public education system. We’ve got to prioritize investing in our public schools, so every kid in America gets a fair shot. That’s why I oppose vouchers. #Espinoza
— Joe Biden (Text Join to 30330) (@JoeBiden) January 23, 2020
Meanwhile, the Bidens are big believers in private schools for themselves. Like his brother and father, Hunter Biden attended Archmere Academy in Delaware. This is likely why, at least in 1997, then-Sen. Joe Biden spoke movingly about the plight of lower-income families and opened the door to the notion of school vouchers.
On the Senate floor, Joe Biden said:
A poll recently released by Beck Research, a Democratic polling firm, shows that the vast majority of voters, particularly black, Latino, and millennial voters, deeply support school choice policies.
The poll, commissioned by the American Federation for Children, shows massive popularity for the federal Education Freedom Scholarship legislation sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Bradley Byrne and championed by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. In total, 78% support the legislation, including 83% of black respondents, 83% of Latinos, 78% of millennials, 67% of Democratic primary voters, and 77% of Republican primary voters.
Does pizza even poll that well?
According to federal data, 82% of school-age children attend district public schools. In our poll, 41% of parents said they would prefer to send their child or grandchild to a private school.
Despite our reputation as a nation of freedom and opportunity for all, America is very much an outlier in how we school our children. The government simply assigns you to schools by ZIP code unless you are lucky enough to have school choice programs in your state — or have the financial means to move to a different school district, pay for private school tuition, or home-school. Meanwhile, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Belgium, Denmark, Israel, and France have far more open and pluralistic systems of education, allowing families the freedom to choose the best elementary and secondary education for their child. In the Netherlands alone, families can choose 36 different types of schools!
Given America’s poor academic standing worldwide and anemic performance on national assessments, where 66% of eighth graders perform below level in reading and math, we desperately need to expand educational opportunities for families. A poor child living in a ZIP code plagued by schools that have failed to educate children for decades deserves the same opportunities exercised by the Biden family.
Tommy Schultz (@Tommy_USA) is the Vice President of Communications and Marketing at the American Federation for Children.
