Senator Lamar Alexander says he supports President Bush’s plan to help pay the cost of private school education for students displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Last week the administration called for emergency legislation to compensate elementary and secondary schools and colleges for the costs of taking in displaced students. It would, in effect, create vouchers that could be used at any school-public or private.
The president has long advocated such vouchers for children in troubled public schools. Critics say the administration is taking advantage of an emergency to institute a controversial program.
Speaking on the Senate floor (today/yesterday) Alexander countered that vouchers for hurricane evacuees are a one-time solution to an immediate problem.
“The public schools are brimming over. They need help from private schools. We can have our debates about vouchers next year when the floodwaters subside and the schools are open again. Right now we need to be throwing out every lifeline that we can – for all of Katrina’s displaced school children, not just some.”
Alexander says the emergency school vouchers are no different from the housing or day care vouchers or food stamps congress has already approved for hurricane victims.
At present, no pending legislation includes a school voucher program. A spokesman for Senator Mike Enzi, chair of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, told the Washington Post he has not yet decided whether to amend legislation drafted last week to include emergency vouchers.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM