Duncan Flunks His Education Test

My latest column for The Week concerns the shameful asphyxiation of the DC voucher pilot program.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan came to Washington with claims to be a reformer. The destruction of the voucher program by Congress was his first test. He flunked.

Rather than stop — or at least resist — the termination of the voucher program, Duncan accelerated it. Confessing compassionate concern that students might suffer from uncertainty over the program’s future, span>he announced this past week that no new students will be admitted< — even though the program has sufficient funds to run for another year. Two hundred applicants just received rejection letters, which arrived after the deadline for application to most District charter schools.

As for those students currently enrolled, their hopes, too, have suddenly turned dim. They will receive the program’s benefits for one more year. Then they, too, must either return to the public system or pay the full cost of escape.