Democrat’s Plan Would Boost Charter Schools

In his January State of the Union address, President George W Bush announced his Pell Grants for Kids proposal. Democrats immediately pounced, declaring that they would oppose efforts to steer federal money toward private schools.

Now prominent congressional Democrat Rahm Emanuel is proposing an alternative to President George W Bush’s $300 million private-school-choice plan that would supplement charter schools instead.

CHICAGO, IL – On the heels of the presidential budget request for funding for a school voucher proposal, in the coming weeks, U.S. Representative Rahm Emanuel (IL-5) will introduce a bill which would authorize $300 million in new funding for children in Title-1 schools that are being restructured under No Child Left Behind due to low performance or high schools with significant drop-out rates. Under Emanuel’s "Pell Grants for Kids," children attending one of these schools could use the funding to attend a nearby charter school.

"When it comes to education, parents and students deserve to have a choice. Instead of taking money out of the public schools, we need to expand school choice options within public schools," said Emanuel. "Charter schools offer students and parents high quality, innovative public school education."

Under the President’s budget proposal, $300 million would go towards a school choice program that would provide funds for students in low-performing schools to switch to either out-of-district public schools or nearby private schools. Under the Emanuel school choice proposal, that funding would remain in the public school setting and go towards charter schools...

SOURCE: Emmanuel press release.