School vouchers in D.C.

An editorial in today’s Opinion Journal praises Washington mayor Anthony Williams for supporting school vouchers in D.C. Meanwhile, the Washington Post criticizes Eleanor Holmes Norton for loaded poll questions on vouchers. An excellent background review on the voucher issue can be found at The Atlantic in a 1999 article titled “A Bold Experiment to Fix City Schools.” It contains a classic exchange between the author and the head of a teachers union which must be read to be believed. Here’s the setup, author Matthew Miller asks former Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander if he could support a school vouchers if they were tied to a 20% boost in education spending [emphasis added]:

At length he said yes. Higher per-pupil spending wouldn't be his preferred solution, of course, but if that's what it took to get a bold voucher plan into failing cities, he'd live with it. "I would go high because the stakes are high," he explained, "and to expose the hypocrisy of the unions. If I told the National Education Association that we'd double it in the five largest cities, they wouldn't take it."

Was he right? I met with Bob Chase, the president of the National Education Association, in the union's headquarters in Washington. He made the familiar case for why vouchers are ineffectual today and would be a threatening distraction for public schools if tried more broadly. Only 25 percent of the adult population has children in the schools, he explained. We need to help the other 75 percent understand why financial support of schools is important. In this regard I sketched the deal: a handful of cities, higher spending, but only through vouchers. My tape recorder captured the staccato response.

"Is there any circumstance under which that would be something that ... "
"No."
" ... you guys could live with? Why?"
"No."
"Double school spending ... "
"No."
" ... in inner cities?"
"No."
"Triple it ... "
"No."
" ... but give them a voucher?"
"'Cause, one, that's not going to happen. I'm not going to answer a hypothetical [question] when nothing like that is ever possible."
"But teachers use hypotheticals every day."
"Not in arguments like this we don't.... It's pure and simply not going to happen. I'm not even going to use the intellectual processes to see if in fact that could work or not work, because it's not going to happen. That's a fact."

He then proceeded to cover his ears and loudly scream: “I’m not listening! – LA LA LA LA LA” (OK, I made that last part up).