Rhee-Considering Vouchers

October 16, 2008: At last night’s debate, Bob Schieffer also posed the first question on education, asking how the candidates planned to improve our failing system. On the surface, both McCain and Obama seemed to agree that school choice should be a cornerstone of reform. Sen. Obama, however, said that the federal government—not parents—should play a larger role in our system. “Where we disagree,” he said, “is on the idea that we can somehow give out vouchers… as a way of securing the problems in our education system.”

Sen. McCain pointed to a successful local program in Washington, D.C. where children have used vouchers to attend private schools, religious schools, or charter schools, as an alternative to the public system. Unfortunately, the only children eligible to participate in the program come from homes who earn just $22,736 a year, meaning that the scholarships are limited to 2,000 students.

In an interesting footnote, the two sparred on the position of D.C. Chancellor Michelle Rhee. Obama claimed that she supported charter schools; McCain insisted that she also supports vouchers. So who was right? The Washington Post says McCain is. In an interview Rhee gave to the Wall Street Journal last December on whether D.C. should renew the voucher program, Rhee said, “I would never, as long as I am in this role, do anything to limit another parent’s ability to make a choice for their child. Ever.”

To the disappointment of her boss, Mayor Adrian Fenty (D), an avid Obama supporter, Rhee has publicly criticized the Illinois senator on his education record in the past year, saying his policy “terrifies me.” She also said—on more than one occasion—that McCain is a stronger candidate on the issue.

This morning, however, Rhee couldn’t back away from her statements fast enough. In a press release that implies the intense chancellor was politically bullied, she now “disagrees with the notion that vouchers are the remedy for repairing the city’s school system” and claims that she “has not taken a formal position” on them. What a difference a day makes.

Tony Perkins heads the Family Research Council. This article is excerpted from the Washington Update that he compiles for the FRC.