John McCain: Real Change means Real Choice in Schools

Chicago Daily Observer an alternative Internet newspaper here in Chicago, published by a civic minded gentleman-philanthropist and managed and edited by the great Tom Roeser and John Powers, syndicated my article John McCain and School Choice.


Click my post title for the article in Chicago Daily Observer


School Choice is the bogey-man of Democratic candidates for any public office, because for decades the Public School Lobbies in America have orchestrated powerful chorus of dollars, votes and news media intimidation that drowns out debate, much less action on this vital issue.

Public Schools have inflated taxes and helped erase the once proud American Middle Class while creating institutionalized failure. The only solution to every problem with American Education, it is argued by the Public School Lobbies, is more tax dollars.

Independent, Parochial and Home Schooling have produced competitive students without public dollars, while heaping an extra financial burden upon families who opt to educate their children away from American Public education.

Public Schools have bankrupted State budgets - especially in Illinois. Public Schools are a factor in the low morale of public service employees who send their children to Catholic and private schools. In the City of Chicago, police, fire, streets and sanitation workers - all City employees - must live within the City limits. The choice for a quality education is limited to Catholic and private schools; thus, these same tax-salaried employees must pay private school tuition. The Chicago Public School system is no option for most City employees. Elected Officials who tout the value of Public Schools send their children to St. Ignatius, DeLaSalle Institute, University Laboratory School ( Senator Barack Obama's attend the LAB). Community activists like Reverend Jesse Jackson sent his sons to LeMans Academy operated by the Brothers of the Holy Cross in Rolling Prairie, Indiana.

Who's kidding whom?

John McCain is the only Presidential Candidate who supports real change in Education.

I ask Chicago Police Officers, Chicago Fire Fighters and any and all City Employees to chime in on the issue. Where do they send their children to be educated?

Here is what John McCain offers as true change in education -Change - Yes, we Can!

Excellence, Choice, and Competition in American Education


John McCain believes American education must be worthy of the promise we make to our children and ourselves. He understands that we are a nation committed to equal opportunity, and there is no equal opportunity without equal access to excellent education.

Public education should be defined as one in which our public support for a child's education follows that child into the school the parent chooses. The school is charged with the responsibility of educating the child, and must have the resources and management authority to deliver on that responsibility. They must also report to the parents and the public on their progress.

The deplorable status of preparation for our children, particularly in comparison with the rest of the industrialized world, does not allow us the luxury of eliminating options in our educational repertoire. John McCain will fight for the ability of all students to have access to all schools of demonstrated excellence, including their own homes.

No Child Left Behind has focused our attention on the realities of how students perform against a common standard. John McCain believes that we can no longer accept low standards for some students and high standards for others. In this age of honest reporting, we finally see what is happening to students who were previously invisible. While that is progress all its own, it compels us to seek and find solutions to the dismal facts before us.

John McCain believes our schools can and should compete to be the most innovative, flexible and student-centered – not safe havens for the uninspired and unaccountable. He believes we should let them compete for the most effective, character-building teachers, hire them, and reward them. (Emphasis my own)


If a school will not change, the students should be able to change schools. John McCain believes parents should be empowered with school choice to send their children to the school that can best educate them just as many members of Congress do with their own children. He finds it beyond hypocritical that many of those who would refuse to allow public school parents to choose their child's school would never agree to force their own children into a school that did not work or was unsafe. They can make another choice. John McCain believes that is a fundamental and essential right we should honor for all parents.

As president, John McCain will pursue reforms that address the underlying cultural problems in our education system - a system that still seeks to avoid genuine accountability and responsibility for producing well-educated children.

John McCain will place parents and children at the center of the education process, empowering parents by greatly expanding the ability of parents to choose among schools for their children. He believes all federal financial support must be predicated on providing parents the ability to move their children, and the dollars associated with them, from failing schools.

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