“Public schools weren’t a ‘dead end’ for me, my parents, my wife, or my kids,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., tweeted on Monday as the Democrats opposed and delayed the nomination of school choice advocate Betsy DeVos to be the education secretary. “So I’m helping to hold the floor overnight, voting NO tomorrow.”
Public schools weren’t a “dead end” for me, my parents, my wife, or my kids. So I’m helping to hold the floor overnight, voting NO tomorrow.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) February 7, 2017
Murphy’s father was a lawyer at a law firm in Hartford. Murphy didn’t go to public school in Hartford, though. He attended Wethersfield High School. To attend Wethersfield H.S., you basically need to live in Wethersfield, Conn.
How different are Wethersfield and Hartford?
Median household income
Wethersfield: $77,195
Hartford: $30,630
Median home value
Wethersfield: $249,300
Hartford: $161,400
Median monthly housing cost
Wethersfield: $1,442
Hartford: $1,008
White
Wethersfield: 85.1 percent
Hartford: 29.8 percent
Percent of high school graduates going straight to college
Wethersfield: 78 percent
Hartford: 25 percent
School choice would allow more parents in Hartford public schools, where 77 percent of students receive free or reduced lunch to send their kids to Wethersfield. Hartford has a network of magnet schools to provide parents with some choice, and parents from outside of Hartford can send their kids to those magnet schools. But parents inside of Hartford may not send their kids to Wethersfield.
Oh, of course, really wealthy parents in Hartford can send their kids up the road to Loomis Chaffee, but for 99 percent of Hartforders, that’s not an option.
DeVos and her compatriots think those families — not just the Loomis Chafee families and the Wethersfield families — should have more choice. Wethersfield alumnus Murphy disagrees.
Timothy P. Carney, the Washington Examiner’s commentary editor, can be contacted at [email protected]. His column appears Tuesday nights on washingtonexaminer.com.
