School Vouchers Under Attack In Louisiana - Justice Department Wants To Keep Kids In Rotten Schools

Political Realities ^ | 12/04/13 | LD Jackson

[LD Jackson]

I have come to a conclusion. The federal government, especially under the Obama administration, does not like success. This is even more so if the success comes from the states, instead of the massive bureaucracy that makes up the federal government. This is never more true than the case of the Louisiana school voucher program. I have written earlier this year about this program, here and here. By all accounts, it has been an unequivocal success story. Parents are happy that they can choose to send their children to another school of their own choice. The children get the opportunity to attend a school that is doing a good job. All in all, it has worked like a charm and it has been administered by the state of Louisiana.

The United States Department of Justice has been in the process of attacking the program for supposedly causing a racial imbalance in the Louisiana school system. You can read about that in my previous posts on the issue. Their court battle was evidently not going so well, so they recently announced they would drop the lawsuit against the state. And everyone would live happily ever after. At least, that's what Eric Holder would like us to believe. Instead, it is a case of the Obama administration announcing they were doing one thing, but in fact, were doing quite another. After all, what good is an overgrown federal bureaucracy if it can't be used to bully the states into submission.

As I wrote earlier, the Louisiana school voucher program has been seen as a success story by everyone involved. Unless you work for the Department of Justice. Human Events has a story on this as well and I think they have aptly described the efforts by the Justice Department.

There was much rejoicing when the Obama Justice Department announced it would no longer seek to crush the Louisiana school voucher program in court, on the absurd grounds that it interferes with federal desegregation efforts.  When that happy news was announced a couple of weeks ago, however, there were warnings from Governor Bobby Jindal and other defenders of the voucher program about more  subtle Administration efforts to strangle the voucher program with red tape.

As it turns out, those efforts aren’t all that subtle.  Red tape isn’t just being used as a noose; it’s been rolled into a club.  The Wall Street Journal reports that the Justice Department is essentially trying to take over the voucher program and run it into the ground.

Ah, the wonders of red tape and a federal bureaucracy. If you get weary with me pointing out how this is a case of a federal government out of control, then allow me to explain. First, a quote from the original story.

The Wall Street Journal - The Justice Department campaign against Louisiana school vouchers gets curiouser and curiouser. Attorney General Eric Holder's troops are now trying to prevent black parents from joining the case by amending their original lawsuit to block the vouchers in 22 districts.

Some Republicans in Washington, D.C., interpreted this motion as Justice dropping its lawsuit, but no one should be fooled. Justice now wants federal courts to establish what would essentially be a preclearance process letting DOJ approve every voucher.

Under Louisiana's voucher law, only students from families with incomes below 250% of the poverty line and who attend schools with a C grade or below are eligible for vouchers. Black kids received over 85% of the 6,800 vouchers this year, and 93% of their parents express satisfaction with the program.

You should really read the entire story from The Wall Street Journal. It is a classic example of the federal government using its bureaucratic weight to obtain the results it desires. While it appears they are dropping the lawsuit against the Louisiana school voucher program, the political reality is much different. If the Justice Department has its way, the federal court system will wrest control of the school voucher program from the state of Louisiana. In effect, they will place the program into a position where every voucher that allows poor families to send their children to better schools will have to be approved by the federal government.

I just had a brilliant idea. The federal government could create a website that parents in Louisiana could sign up on for the school vouchers. Maybe they could get the same company to design it that created the website for ObamaCare. It would be guaranteed to not work.

Enough of the sarcasm. This is a serious overstep by the Obama administration. Given their past actions against all things not akin to the federal bureaucracy, I'm not surprised. It doesn't matter to them if something is working or not. If they don't have complete control over any given program, they consider it to be a failure. Thus, it is with the Louisiana school voucher program.

They tried to sue it into oblivion by accusing the state of creating a racial imbalance. What they really meant is that the public schools would be too white. That was shown to be false, so they are now trying to take complete control of the program, via the federal courts. That's one sure way to make sure it falls on its face.

Tell me again how the Obama administration is fighting for the middle class and I'll point you to the case of the Louisiana school voucher program. It is a classic example of how they are doing nothing of the kind.

[Artie]

It’s fer the chillrun. Gotta keep em in crap schools in rotten environments. No one left behind or somethin

[high info voter]

“Success” would equate to intelligence, intelligence would equate to figuring out Obama and his corrupt government..... we can’t have that.

[jazzlite]

Propaganda is useless without an audience.

[skinkinthegrass]

...seems the feds, only want to "warehoused" all of them on the liberal plantation
even since LBJ's Great (Socialist) Society Programming going on for 3 generations
(much like the BoIA for 8 gens.) keeping them all in chains..
@ least then; during pre-Civil War, they (the slaves) recognized the chains. :'(