Always remember that teachers unions represent teachers, not students.  They will pursue whatever is in the best interest of the teachers even if it means that the students are adversely affected.  That was clear in a recent vote in South Carolina’s House of Representatives.

South Carolina students could apply to attend any public school in the state — regardless of where they live — if a bill passed by the House Thursday becomes law.

But the measure doesn’t include private school vouchers or tax credits as a further option, as some conservative lawmakers had hoped.

…

In the end, the closest vote was 62-56 to table an amendment that would have offered a nearly $4,500 private school tuition voucher for poor children who attend schools the state rates “unsatisfactory.”

So instead of the public schools in South Carolina having to compete with private schools for students, they will merely shuffle kids from one failing public school to another.  But, the teachers will keep their jobs!

One Representative, James Smith, was a true profile in hypocrisy.  Smith is a captain in the Army National Guard and was granted a one day leave from his training in Kansas to cast a vote on the $4,500 voucher amendment.  He voted against the amendment.  The hypocrisy you ask?

He held a press conference Thursday flanked by his 11-year-old son at which he declared that by electing voucher opponent Democrat Jim Rex as state education superintendent last year, the voters had rejected school choice. Mr. Rex won his election by just 455 votes out of more than a million cast, but before long the House was voting down giving poor parents the same choice Mr. Smith exercises in sending his son to the expensive private Heathwood Hall Episcopal School in Columbia.

Smith realizes that the public schools in his state are not good enough for his own child, but he feels it is his duty to deny the opportunity to escape those failing public schools to those who can’t afford it alone.  What a leader!

Related content:

This entry was posted by Brian on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007 at 8:01 pm and is filed under Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.