Open the school house doors

Milwaukee State Representative Fred Kessler's attack on school choice has not gone unnoticed. Ricky on State of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel opines:

Milwaukee State Representative Fred Kessler's Kessler would take it back to 19,500, down from the 22,500 negotiated three years ago by choice advocates and the governor. The problem: Choice schools have acted as if the governor's commitment meant something. As of November 2008, choice students numbered 20,244. And a couple of schools, again counting on that raised cap, have expansion plans that have already involved enrolling students. So, it's plain, that some students will have to be kicked out and others denied their choices. This is simply unfair.

To be fair, this is a matter of Assembly Democrats messing with the governor's commitment. But, if this amendment survives floor debate today or if the state Senate doesn't excise it in deliberations next week, the governor should stand by his commitment and veto the measure.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker isn't happy either:

Fred Kessler and anyone in the State Assembly who votes for his motion to cut 3,000 students out of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program should be ashamed of themselves. This is an all out assault on kids and their families. It is pathetic when someone uses these young people purely as political pawns.

Maybe now people will see that white liberals like Rep. Kessler care more about flexing their political power than about the kids in these schools.

Will the legislature and the governor live up to the commitment made to school choice parents in 2006? Or will they tell (mostly minority) families that the path to a quality education is barred to them?

Will Democrats, once again, stand in the school house doors?

Kessler leads his governor back into school choice fight

State Representative Fred Kessler (D-Milwaukee) is no friend of the Milwaukee school choice program and proved it again with a purely gratuitous move to reduce the enrollment cap for school choice students from 22,500 to 19,500. Readers will remember the fight to set the cap at 22,500, and how much heat Governor Doyle took. Now the question is, will Doyle be willing to take the heat again to throw 3,000 students out of the choice program?

Besides putting Doyle on the spot, if the provision passes the Assembly it will put State Senator Jeff Plale and State Senator Jim Sullivan on record, too. Especially with Sullivan, this is not the fight the Democrats want.

Even liberal blogger and MPS teacher Jay Bullock recognizes this was a bad political move by Kessler. I suspect that if it makes to Governor Doyle's desk, he'll veto the cap reduction.

Republicans can win on education issues, and moves like Kessler's are just more ammunition for an education reform agenda.

I guess Democrats don't care about African-American children

We learned on Tuesday that Congressional Democrats care more about the support of teachers unions than they do about African American children. They would rather deprive African American children in the Washington D.C. school district an opportunity for a better education than cross the union teachers. They would rather place the children in harm's way (DC schools ranked first in school violence) rather than continue a successful voucher program because some union bosses believe schools are built to employ teachers rather than educate children.

Now we know who is standing in the school house door.

The next time I'm in Nebraska I promise to tell this guy off

Jay Bullock ventures outside of his center square to discover a congressman in Nebraska has set up his official website to block any links from Blogspot websites, like the one you are reading. Only it seems to work for my site. Hmmmm. (Update! The links only work in the pre-publishing stage.) Anyway, I'm thoroughly outraged that a congressman in Nebraska, a state just on the other side of Iowa, would block bloggers critical of the congressman from linking to his official taxpayer-funded website.

Normally, I would just drop the matter here. But Bullock and other liberal bloggers have shown me the error of my ways. When criticizing someone on my side of the political divide, my previous method was to to be specific about what it was that I was criticizing and that was usually it. From here on out, whenever I criticize Republicans like Senator Larry Craig or Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen, I will add the following:

Of course, I would be even more outraged if I wasn't already reserving all of my outrage for the following: Governor Doyle's lies about taxes, violent repression in Burma, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton claiming credibility on racial issues, Senator Ted Kennedy having a dog named "Splash", the oppression of women in Arab/Muslim cultures, the 2008 Olympics in Peking, The New Republic, George Lucas ruining the Star Wars franchise, violent repression in Zimbabwe, Wisconsin's junior senator having absolute contempt for the first amendment, The Dixie Chicks, The Washington Redskins, State Senate Democrats proposing the destruction of Wisconsin businesses and employment and calling the proposal the Orwellian "Healthy Wisconsin", Governor Doyle's veto power, the Potawatami tribe's influence on Wisconsin politics, Castro still in power in Cuba, American lefties celebrating Castro's government in Cuba, Hugo Chavez, American lefties celebrating Hugo Chavez, poor service at Miss Katie's Diner, legalized abortion, the death penalty, euthanasia advocates, the ACLU, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, ethanol mandates, Double-Stuff Oreo cookies not having enough filling, Iran pursuing nuclear weapons, North Korea, public union employees opposed to school choice, and Michael Bolton.

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