The jubilation from the nation's second-largest teacher union was shocking, especially considering the impact the decision could have had. Not only would the children in question have been precluded from attending the schools they were scheduled to attend, they wouldn't have been able to start at their assigned Cleveland public schools on time, either. After the judge's initial decision, Cleveland Mayor Michael White struggled to find teachers, facilities and transportation for the displaced students while their classmates started on schedule. How this can be celebrated by anyone, particularly somebody in education, is a mystery. The first two years of the program saw a nearly 15 percentage point increase in mathematics performance and an almost 7 percentage point hike in reading skills for students in the first through third grades, according to a Harvard-based study of preliminary results.
Parents are happy about their decision to pursue the scholarships.
Parental satisfaction in the areas of safety and discipline, two areas most worrisome to many parents after the recent rash of school massacres, also came in very high. But the fact that the program is making a measurable contribution to the education of these youngsters and providing a safe, secure environment for learning simply wasn't good enough for the teacher union and the other groups. The participating students and parents know what type of educational program is right for them and are pursuing it. Yet that pursuit may come to a screeching halt to ensure that taxpayer money keeps flowing into the public school system. Whether the children of taxpayers attend is apparently not as important to voucher opponents as the tax money.