Burgess Owens: “What happens is that the Giuliani program is significant in that it says exactly what vouchers can do. There were 91,000…”

“What happens is that the Giuliani program is significant in that it says exactly what vouchers can do. There were 91,000 youngsters who had no place to sit when school opened in 1996. They took 1,000 of the 91,000 and they found a voucher program for them, they found scholarships for them. They are going to take care of 1,000 children. In the meantime, what are they saying to the other 90,000? You cannot deal with poor people and the problems of poor people in our inner cities unless you move systematically to change the larger system. Charter schools could have an impact on that system. It could accomplish some of the things they want to accomplish. Vouchers are a diversion. They are running away from the responsibility, the need to appropriate more money for construction, more money for teacher training, more money for books and supplies. They are running away from the responsibility and they are diverting the attention of the American people with vouchers. In their own communities, voucher advocates refuse to go and ask for a referendum and ask for focus groups and campaign on it. It will be very unpopular, I assure you, if they dare to push voucher programs in their own communities.”