The political maneuvering of District congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton can be breathtaking. She’s been known to brush aside her constituents’ desires, favoring her own or those of her beloved Democratic Party.
Last week, for example, she proudly announced her victory in pushing back efforts in the Senate to mandate a public vote on same-sex marriage. Yet, the majority of District residents — proponents and opponents — believe the issue should be placed on the ballot, according to a poll released earlier this year.
Norton also held up for attention her $5 million request for 2011 to President Obama’s administration. She wants the money to help District children who were closed out of the federally funded Opportunity Scholarship Program after initially being accepted. Those children would have received up to $7,500 a year to attend any private or parochial school of their choice. But they won’t get that subsidy because the program is being phased out.
“I cannot imagine sending a child to a school everybody knows is terrible,” Norton told me.
Get out of here!
Norton knows she and other Democrats are the reason the program has yet to be reauthorized, after its initial five-year funding expired. When her party gained control of the House, it was on Dems’ top 10 list of things to kill. The Obama administration agreed to fund the scholarships for only two more years — despite the fact hundreds of low-income black and Hispanic children accepted for 2010 would be turned away and other young people already in the program might not be able to finish.
Norton said she is concerned about what will happen to those children and to the city. She said the $5 million could help relieve the burden on the city, which is facing a financial crisis and can’t afford a sudden influx of hundreds of children into its classrooms. The special appropriation would pay District charter schools to enroll former Opportunity Scholarship students, regardless of the waiting lists at those schools.
“This is a principled alternative,” Norton said, reiterating her opposition to the vouchers while noting that private schools aren’t required to make a public accounting of their actions even when they get public money.
Truth be told, Norton’s request is for guilt-easing money.
Kevin Chavous, a former D.C. councilman and an education choice advocate, said her move is “disrespectful to District residents.”
“I couldn’t be more outraged by her presumptuous approach. It just shows you how much she doesn’t know about the operation of charter schools,” he added. “This isn’t a solution. Congress should go on and reauthorize the program.”
But Norton said Chavous and the families of those 1,700 children should get real: “People who continue to believe in the voucher program forced on the District some five years ago, that is not supported by the House and the Senate and not supported by the administration, are going down a blind alley.”
Norton’s attitude adds new meaning to the phrase taxation without representation.
Jonetta Rose Barras can be reached at [email protected].
