President Obama would like us to believe he is in favor of helping the middle class. How many times did we hear that farce during the 2012 campaign? Enough to make me sick to my stomach, knowing it for the lie that it is. To see another great example of just how big of a lie that claim is, just point your eyes and ears south, to the state of Louisiana. Ask Governor Bobby Jindal if he believes the Obama administration is for the middle class and helping the children.
It is being reported the Justice Department is taking aim at another choice families have in Louisiana. In the name of desegregation, they want certain school districts left alone. In other words, they don’t want mothers and fathers to take their children out of those school districts.
Fox News – The Justice Department is trying to stop a school vouchers program in Louisiana that attempts to help families send their children to independent schools instead of under-performing public schools.
The agency wants to stop the program, led by Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, in any school district that remains under a desegregation court order.
In papers filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, the agency said Louisiana distributed vouchers in 2012-13 to roughly 570 public school students in districts that are still under such orders, and “many of those vouchers impeded the desegregation process.”
The federal government argues that allowing students to attend independent schools under the voucher system could create a racial imbalance in public school systems protected by desegregation orders.
Racial imbalance? Is that what is first and foremost on the minds of President Obama and Eric Holder? Do they not care that these school vouchers help families take their children out of schools that are not good for them and place them in an environment where they are comfortable to learn and grow? It appears that way to me. They have a perverted vision of what certain schools should look like racially, never mind what is best for the children. We already know the Obama administration will be using HUD to push for more diverse neighborhoods. They are not satisfied with letting people decide where they want to live. They want a better mixture in each neighborhood. That must be why they are trying to stop Louisiana from giving these school vouchers to families who want to pull their children out of schools that are not doing a good job.
I have to ask the obvious question. Whatever happened to families having a choice of where and how they educate their children? What if some of these families decided to pull their children out of the school system completely, choosing to home school them? Would that go against the federal desegregation order? Would they take that choice away from the parents of these children?
Once again, we see a federal government who is reaching far beyond its constitutional boundaries. To begin with, this should be a family choice and a local issue. At the most, it should not reach beyond the state level. The federal government should have no say in this matter. If the families choose to place their children in another school, for whatever reason they state, then so be it. That should be their choice. The state of Louisiana is trying to help these families by giving them vouchers to help pay for the cost of that move. I presume the vouchers are paid for with state monies, collected from state and local taxes, both sales and property. Isn’t that the way the system is supposed to work?
This isn’t the first time the Louisiana school voucher program has come under fire. The Fox News article references that Governor Bobby Jindal had to find other state funds to pay for some of the school vouchers. That is because of a ruling by a Louisiana state judge agreed with the arguments put forth by the teacher unions and school boards that allowing the school voucher program to go forward would funnel too much money away from the traditional public school system.
I have just one question for President Obama, Eric Holder, and anyone who believes school choice for families is a bad thing. Whose side are they on? Are they for the children or for a public school system that continues to fail in many areas of the country? I think the answer to that question is obvious.
