Rewarding Incompetence

There is an interesting sideshow of political theater occurring in Washington these days. Amazingly, it doesn't have to do with the economyor foreign threats. It has to do with the school system, and promises that Mr. Obama made during his campaign. This is the story of two school districts, both failing, with the government coming in and doing two very different things..for no rational reason what so ever.

Incompetence seems to be the way to garner the most government dollars these days. Whether you are AIG, Citibank, Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae, the more inept and unsuccessful you are, the better.

First, the Washington D.C. school district and its Voucher Program. This is clearly one of the worst school districts in America, a very sad statement. No politician, even those that are diehard public school champions, are willing to test their children in those schools. That speaks volumes.

The Bush Administration, with the support of D.C. officials, put in place a voucher program in the District as a test case of how vouchers could work. District of Columbia's schools chancellor, Michelle Rhee, has been a champion of the vouchers, because she argues that ultimately what matters is that children get educated. The 2004 Republicans (with key help of Democrat Dianne Feinstein) gave families who are near or under the poverty line up to $7,500 to fund their childrens education. Considering the District spends almost $15,000 per student, this actually increased funds for the public school district. And by every measure imaginable the program appears to be working. It is highly popular in the District, especially among African-Americans. Even Education Secretary Arne Duncan supports the voucher system in D.C., and Mr. Obama supported the concept during his Presidential campaign.

But all that isn't enough for liberals in Congress.

Democrats in Congress, long beholden to labor unions, and especially the teacher unions, had decided in their greatness to throw out the successful program. Not for any cost savings, nor any reason of failure, simply for ideological reasons. And in the process, they will leave 1,800 students who are doing relatively well in their new schools out in the cold.

What is even more pathetic is how they are doing it. They are going through budget channels (i.e. red tape) to basically quietly kill the program. They don't even have the spine to come out declare they are against it, largely because it is a highly popular program in the city.

In the race of incompetence, the Detroit Public Schools has few challengers.

The DPS has one of the worst records of a big city school district in the country. Its graduation rate challenges for the lowest in the nation. The schools are crumbling, and have deteriorated even when funds were available. And for some reason, we are going to 'reward' them approximately $530 million over the next two years as part of the spending from the recently passed stimulus bill.

What?

This is the same school system which has an estimated $150-million deficit and finances so tangled the state recently appointed a manager to take the financial reins. The manager said that he will need forensic accountants just to figure out where the money has gone over the past decade.

Now, don't get me wrong. As a person who runs a charity dedicated to educating underpriviledged children, no group of kids need more help than those in the Detroit Public Schools. I have in the past tutored and mentored kids from this area, and let me tell you, it is an embarrassment to call the DPS a school system. But handing over half a billion dollars to a group of administrators that don't even know how to balance a checkbook? Not exactly an intelligent idea.

Now, to be fair, there is a disparity in school spending in Michigan, like in most states. The richest districts in the state spend around $18,000 per student per year, while Detroit only can spend around $11,000. So absolutely, the money could be useful. But the money will only be useful if it is used properly.

Almost on a monthly basis, there are stories of corruption within the highest places within the school district. As recently as last week the board was accused of directing contracts to their cronies. For years, the Superintendent and members of the School Board has chauffer driven vehicles. And there have been accusations for decades that there are slush funds that are used for trips and parties for the higher personnel in the department.

This is by no means money that can't be used, if used properly. But before we hand that kind of money to the Detroit Public Schools, maybe someone may want to take one second and think if the incompetent fools among the leadership of the Detroit School System should be making any decisions with this amount of money.

So we see two potential paths for our glorious government. On the first hand, we have a program that appears to be successfully educating children! What a concept. And Congress is ready to kill it. On the other hand, we have a system that has received billions of dollars over the past decade, and has only gotten worse. And Congress is increasing funding for them. It is a disgrace. Even the mayor of Washington D.C., Adrian M. Fenty (D), has fallen quiet on this critical issue. Pathetic.

This is a key issue for me, and it should be for Mr. Obama. He spoke clearly on the potential of charter schools and vouchers during his campaign. Well, now is time to stand up, stand up to liberals in Congress, stand up to the Teacher's Unions, and most importantly, stand up for the children of America who have been left on the roadside by our ridiculous government education policies.