Scholarships enable the disabled

During a debate in Texas over proposals to offer scholarships to learning-disabled children, the contrast between those who understand that schools, districts and education systems were made for children – not children for the system – could not have been starker. Note the distinction in responses to the proposals:

Real leaders like Houston Rep. Dan Patrick pounded their desks (literally) and ask: “What about just doing the right thing” for children?

However, bureaucrats blather about money and try to pit groups against one another. They whine about anything but the kids, as demonstrated by the response of Craig Tounget with the Texas Coalition of Public Schools: “We don’t want the public funds coming out of the public school system.”

But at least they’re having the debate in Texas. In Kentucky, the politicians in charge of the House Education Committee won’t even give school choice for the learning disabled a hearing, despite research conducted for the Bluegrass Institute by Pacific Research Institute’s Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D. -- one of the foremost authorities on special-needs scholarships in the country.

Murray’s report, “Enable the Disabled,” indicates that a special-needs scholarship program would help Kentucky’s schools, kids and communities.

Who will “pound the desk” for the children in Frankfort during the 2010 legislative session?