BUSH & GORE - 2nd Debate

As president, George W Bush has vowed to pass school choice legislation. Al Gore on the other hand has vowed to continue the Clinton policy of all government all the time.

Political pundits nationwide are telling us that education is the number one voter concern. Polls show that black inner city voters in particular want school choice. This is a major concern for Gore because the black vote is, or at least was, taken for granted to be his. On the other hand, polls show that suburban voters do not favor school choice. This is a concern for the Bush team because they don’t want to alienate their base in order to convert Gore’s.

Pundits are suggesting that while education in general and school choice in particular are chief voter concerns, the issue is being avoided and is not likely to play a major role in the debates. The problem that George Bush has is that Democrats have been successful in using fear to convince Republican voters that school choice will take funds away from public schools. This is an illegitimate concern, but one that plagued Bob Dole’s weak campaign four years ago. Apart from the fact that there will be no drain of funds, Dole’s lack of courage in debating the issue caused serious concerns among people who vote for leadership character. This should not be a problem for George W Bush. What remains to be seen is if Gore has the guts to try to defend his education policy in a public debate. If education is debated, George Bush will win.

School choice has many forms. The one that most people have heard of is ‘vouchers’. This is where parents would be given a portion of the revenue that would usually go straight to the public school in their child’s neighborhood. As it is now, when concerned parents put their child in a private school the taxes they have paid must stay with the undesirable school. These good parents who desperately want to give their children a better education are often unable to pay twice.

Clinton, Gore and their unionist supporters would have you believe that a voucher will take funds away from public schools. The fact is that vouchers will cause a dramatic increase in public school funding per pupil. Voucher plans call for an amount of money equal to half of the public school’s funding per pupil to be given to the parent. The parent would then use the voucher to pay the tuition in any school of their choice. This works well because private schools typically provide a better education for about half the price of public schools. A public school currently spending $10,000 per pupil will get to keep about $5000 when that student leaves the system. There is no drain as predicted by the Clinton/Gore camp.

The biggest problem facing public schools today is not lack of money, standards, or teachers. It’s the lack of competition. It’s the lack of courage on the part of Republican politicians to challenge the Democrats to a real debate.

David Crawmer