[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 139 (Wednesday, October 8, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1971-E1972]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           EDUCATIONAL CHOICE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NEWT GINGRICH

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 8, 1997

  Mr. GINGRICH. Mr. Speaker, I want to encourage my colleagues to read 
the following articles about educational choice. One is an editorial 
from the Wall Street Journal, the other, an article by Lindsay Sobel 
from The Hill, entitled ``Voucher Opponents Send Own Children to 
Private Schools.'' I believe that it is crucial that every child of 
every background in every neighborhood is given the opportunity to 
access the best education possible. It amazes me that many of our 
colleagues continue to arrogantly refuse to offer the children in the 
failing District of Columbia schools the same educational opportunities 
that are available to their own children.

             [From the Wall Street Journal, Sept. 8, 1997]

                            Sidwell Liberals

       Our vote for the worst scandal in America right now is the 
     education monopoly that keep poor, inner-city kids trapped in 
     awful public schools. Special mention here goes to the 
     politicians who oppose giving these children the choice to 
     escape even as they send their own kids to private schools.
       Let's call them Sidwell Liberals, after the famous 
     Washington, D.C., school where President and Mrs. Clinton 
     sent their daughter. That school turned out to be a splendid 
     choice for Chelsea Clinton, who is now moving on in 
     impressive style to her freshman year at Stanford. Vice 
     President Al Gore and his four children have also benefited 
     from elite private education. Despite this personal 
     experience, both men oppose giving the same kind of choice to 
     kids who must walk through school metal detectors within 
     miles of the White House.
       Now comes a survey of Congress showing the same kind of 
     Sidwell hypocrisy. Nina Shokraii, an education analyst at the 
     Heritage Foundation, spent the summer asking Members of 
     Congress where their kids go to school. She got answers from 
     about nine of 10 House members and 77 Senators. Of those 
     responding, 34.4% in the House and 50% of Senators with 
     school-age or older kids have sent them to private schools.
       Members of Congress are upper-middle-class folk with the 
     income to afford private school tuition. This isn't true of 
     most American families, which is one reason only 14% of 
     school-age kids go to private school nationwide. For black 
     and Hispanic children, the number is 8%. Yet the Heritage 
     study shows that 32% of the Congressional Black Caucus, and 
     44% of the Hispanic Caucus, educate their children outside 
     the same public school system they claim to hold so dear.
       Many parents are satisfied with public schools, of course, 
     and if you live in the likes of Winnetka, Ill., or Scarsdale, 
     N.Y., or the state of Utah this is at least rational. Many of 
     these parents figure they've already exercised ``choice'' in 
     where they've decided to live. Their ``tuition,'' if you 
     will, comes in the form of high-priced real estate. This is 
     one reason many middle-class voters have been reluctant to 
     embrace a full-fledged voucher program, especially with the 
     teachers' union demagoging the issue.
       But where this opposition is insane, and becomes a form of 
     national self-destruction, is in the big urban school systems 
     that work like the Mir space station. Some of the best of 
     these schools have 50% dropout rates. Many teachers wouldn't 
     dream of sending their own kids to the same urban schools 
     they work in everyday.
       It is precisely these horrendous schools that education 
     reformers have begun to target with school-choice proposals 
     that offer some kind of financial or tax help to low-income 
     families. The Republican House passed a bill last year for 
     the District of Columbia, 241-177, only to see it opposed by 
     Senators who send their children to private schools. Ted 
     Kennedy's kids went to private school, of course. Arlen 
     Specter, a Republican from Pennsylvania, has also opposed the 
     D.C. choice bill, but chose private schools.
       The Heritage study doesn't get into individuals, but our 
     own reporting shows plenty of Sidwell Liberals in the House, 
     too. A couple of them belong to committees holding hearings 
     this week on both the D.C. proposal and broader school 
     choice. Missouri's Bill Clay is the ranking Democrat on the 
     Education Committee and voted against the D.C. bill last 
     year. So did Democrat Matthew Martinez of California. Yet 
     both didn't object to private schools for their own 
     offspring. Overall, according to the Heritage study, nearly 
     40% of the Members on the House Education committee, which 
     has jurisdiction over school choice, have chosen private 
     schools for their kids.
       The political fashion among GOP pollsters now is that 
     ``school choice'' doesn't sell to the middle class. But how 
     about junking the polls for once and making the case based on 
     justice and the national interest? America can't stay a great 
     nation with millions of inner-city kids held hostage to a 
     public school monopoly that turns them into truants or worse. 
     Not every American kid can go to Sidwell, but none of them 
     should be consigned to schools no liberal would accept for 
     his own flesh and blood.


     
                                                                    ____
                [From The Hill, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 1997]

         Voucher Opponents Send Own Children to Private Schools

                           (By Lindsay Sobel)

       Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.) sends her only son to a 
     private parochial school in Illinois. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy 
     (D-Mass) sent his children to private schools in the D.C. 
     area, while Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) sent at least 
     one of her children to Georgetown Day School, a private 
     school.
       Others who sent their children to D.C. area private schools 
     include Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Sens. 
     James Jeffords (R-VT.) and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.)
       But none of them favor a proposal to give 2,000 D.C. 
     students federally funded vouchers that would enable them to 
     attend private schools.
       Mosely-Braun said such a program would be ``a dilution of 
     support for public education,'' a sentiment echoed by the 
     others.
       But supporters of the measure argue that low-income 
     families should have the same choices about where to send 
     their children to school that members of Congress do. ``The 
     nation should be outraged that [congressional opponents'' 
     insist that school choice should not be an option when they 
     send their children to private schools,'' said Star Parker, 
     president of the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education.
       Although at least 20 members of Congress whose families 
     live in the Washington area have school-age children, a 
     survey by. The Hill revealed none who send their children to

[[Page E1972]]

     the beleaguered District of Columbia's public schools.
       Most of these members support a proposal that would provide 
     2,000 D.C. students with scholarships to attend private 
     schools, because they consider the D.C. schools so inferior. 
     But some do not support a nationwide voucher program because 
     they believe that most public schools provide an adequate 
     education.
       The measure is part of the House's District of Columbia 
     Appropriations bill, but it failed in the Senate.
       But Moseley-Braun said money spent on vouchers could be 
     used ``to fix up the crumbling public schools.'' She said 
     everyone has the right to send their children to a prviate 
     school, but added, ``Taxpayers should not be forced to pay 
     for it'' because that is ``paying twice.''
       The D.C. provision is different from most voucher proposals 
     in several ways: The scholarship money for students to attend 
     private schools does not come out of the public school 
     budget. Families must be below the poverty level to receive 
     the full scholarship.
       Del. Norton opposes the plan on the basis that it violates 
     D.C. home rule. Donna Brazile, Norton's chief of staff, said 
     that supporters of the bill do not want to help D.C. 
     students. ``This is a form of national experimentation,`` 
     said Brazile, adding, ``They can't impose their will anywhere 
     else in America, but they can impose it here.''
       Those who support the measure include those who sent their 
     children to both public and private schools, Virginia Reps. 
     Jim Moran (D) and Tom Davis (R) both send their children to 
     public schools in their districts in the Virginia suburbs.
       Moran said that while he supports vouchers in Washington 
     because District schools are in a severe crisis, ``I believe 
     in public schools and wanted my kids to have a diverse 
     experience.` His first-grade daughter and third-grade son 
     attend Cora Kelly Elementary School in Alexandria, which is 
     80 percent minority.
       Asked if he would have sent his children to public schools 
     if he lived in the District, Moran replied. ``I would make 
     the decision that almost every black middle-class parent has 
     already made and not subject my kids to the D.C. public 
     schools. ``Most low-income parents would do the same if they 
     had the option,'' he added.
       Davis, too, said he opposes vouchers in general. But he 
     supports the proposal for D.C. because, ``The city can't even 
     certify that the schools are safe.''
       Acknowledging that he would never send his kids to D.C. 
     public schools and doesn't know any members of Congress who 
     do, Davis said he has three children in the public schools in 
     Virginia. He called the difference between the two systems 
     like night and day, adding. ``The reason the middle-class has 
     left the city is the schools.''

     

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