Friday, August 5, 2011

Say it loud, say it proud: V is for voucher

It's no secret that the school-employee labor unions are stuck in the past, so it comes as no surprise that they still deploy the v-word as a weapon. For example, the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA) recently referred to Oklahoma's new tax-credit scholarship law, SB 969, as "a voucher bill." OEA probably thinks that among the general public the v-word is toxic. But in reality, as Harvard professor Paul E. Peterson pointed out this week, school vouchers are making a comeback in the court of public opinion. (I've polled them in Oklahoma and they're above water here, too -- though they're not as popular as tax credits, which is another incentive OEA would have to misrepresent SB 969.)

In any case, do you want to know my favorite factoid about vouchers? They were revived this year in the District of Columbia by the man the union just endorsed for President.

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