The dinner offered three other rarities for D.C. black tie events: The wine kept flowing throughout dinner; dessert was a white chocolate replica of the Capitol dome stuffed with dark chocolate mousse; and the event ended shortly after 10 p.m.
Subj: Sausage, eggs, and school choice
Date: 2/8/01
From: mwlynch@reason.com
"It's time to turn the idea into action," said the National Center for Policy Analysis' policy chairman, Pete DuPont, at the National Press Club's Holman Lounge. Unlike Feldstein a couple days back at Cato, DuPont wasn't talking about private Social Security accounts -- although he'd surely give them a thumbs-up -- but school choice. NCPA feels so strongly about it that it rushed a book to print in the wake of Bush's victory -- An Education Agenda: Let Parents Choose Their Children's School. It was the subject of today's conference.
Knowing where to find a hearty breakfast, especially after a night spent at a gala dinner, is critical for a D.C. scribe. NCPA is a Texas-based think tank with a national focus that expresses its regional pride through food. So I was finishing up a plate of scrambled eggs, a sausage patty, a sweet roll, and fresh fruit as DuPont ran through a loose history of school choice. Adam Smith mentioned something about it in The Wealth of Nations; so did Tom Paine a decade or so later. Then, said DuPont, skipping ahead, there was Milton Friedman's seminal paper in 1955. Bringing us up to date, he concluded: "In Milwaukee and Cleveland, that's where the voucher movement got its practical start."
Another place that choice, broadly defined, is making real headway is Arizona, where there are 450 charter schools and a tax credit law that will fund up to $20 million in private school scholarships this year. On hand to discuss the Grand Canyon State's experience was Lisa Graham Keegan, who's serving her second term as Arizona's superintendent of public instruction.
Keegan, who would have been secretary of education had John McCain's presidential bid not flamed out, wants to redefine public education as any education that serves the public -- which is to say, just about any school. The tax system to finance education ought to be broad and fair, she says. But she also thinks the money ought to "follow the children," regardless of where they choose to attend school.
"I'm very frustrated hearing conversations like the one I'm hearing now at the federal level, that school choice takes money away from public schools," said the animated Keegan, extending her right leg from behind the podium and rocking on her heel. "School choice ought to be a non-negotiable part of public education."
Keegan supports the principles driving Bush's plan. But as a state official, she also knows that education, regardless of what the president does, will still primarily be a creature of state and local governments. And as someone who's been in the trenches for years, she knows that choice has many enemies.
In fact, she identifed one such enemy that may have shocked a few in the audience. The first question was a softball designed to let her rip on the educational establishment. "What's the worst experience from the opposition?" asked an eager man sitting in the front of the room.
Though she easily could have, Keegan didn't tell a tale of evil unions, incompetent teachers, or intransigent school boards. Instead, she said her most difficult challenge came when she tried to reorganize the funding so that it would follow the children equally. "That does not sell in the neighborhoods I grew up in," said Keegan, referring to upscale areas where the schools are good and tax rates actually much lower than the poorer cities. "That is painful for me." Not to mention the kids in the classrooms.
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