John Tierney: “public funds are entrusted basically for the use of the greatest, broadest public good, not for selected use or…”

“public funds are entrusted basically for the use of the greatest, broadest public good, not for selected use or discrimination or to put forward for 3 percent of the people. That seems to make a second privileged class, those that are already fortunate enough and wealthy enough to be able to afford a private education, and now 3 percent of other formerly public school children are going to have the privilege of going where others are not. It does not address the issue; it does not address the issue that was just spoken to by our good friend from Arizona, schools that may not be as good as the good public schools that we do have, and we do have good public schools. The answer is to make sure that all of our public schools are as good as they can be, as good as those that are already good; to fix those broken schools to make sure the curriculum works, to make sure that every child that attends public school has good teachers; to make sure that we measure their progress, and to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to move up the economic ladder in this country and have hope and have a good life. Vouchers do not improve schools. They draw away the source of money that could improve schools. They are not fair. They do not provide an opportunity for every student that wants to move to a private school.”