In an op-ed published Wednesday by The 74, former Senator Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., called on President Obama’s Department of Education to support school choice in Washington, D.C.
“It continues to be puzzling why this Obama administration has consistently denied low-income minority students in the District of Columbia the chance to get a quality education,” Lieberman writes. “At this moment, the U.S. Department of Education is sitting on some $35 million in funds specifically appropriated by the U.S. Congress for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program.”
The Opportunity Scholarship Program now gives 1,244 Washington students a tuition scholarship to attend the private school of their choice. As Lieberman notes, its primary beneficiaries are low-income families: The average household income of students receiving scholarships is $21,434 a year.
“The Department of Education has thus far without explanation refused to release these funds to allow for new scholarships for needy families. In doing this, I fear it is buckling to the powerful teachers’ unions,” Lieberman writes.
Lieberman served as a senator from Connecticut from 1989 through 2012. He was a Democrat for most of that tenure, only taking on the “independent” label after losing the Democratic Senate primary in 2006 but winning the general election as a third party candidate. Lieberman was Al Gore’s vice presidential nominee in 2000, but he endorsed John McCain for president in 2008.
While in the Senate, Lieberman joined with former Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, to fight for the program’s extension.
“I urge newly confirmed Secretary of Education John King to release these funds immediately and give these children the same educational opportunity that current Opportunity Scholarship students now enjoy,” Lieberman concludes. “He will thereby give them a better chance to receive a quality education, graduate from high school, go on to college and reach their full potential in life.”
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
