“If I’m President, Betsy DeVos’s whole notion [of school choice], from charter schools to this, are gone.”
That’s what Joe Biden, presidential candidate, had to say this December at an education forum.
Charter schools are K‑12 schools that are publicly funded but managed semi-independently— not by the standard educational bureaucracy. Biden’s repudiation represents a break with the Obama administration, which had voiced support for charter schools.
One reason for Obama’s support may have been that so many Democratic voters, like other voters, want an alternative to standard public schools.
According to a survey conducted by Beck Research, 56 percent of Democrats “favor the concept of school choice,” with “school choice” understood to mean giving parents “the right to use tax dollars designated for their child’s education to send their child to the public or private school which best serves their needs.”
Once upon a time, Biden supported greater educational opportunity — explicitly, not just tacitly as a member of the Obama administration. But now he slams charter schools for taking money from public schools. (But in a different way from how public schools take money from taxpayers.) More and more, this man’s “moderation” seems indistinguishable from opposition to any even halting expansion of our freedom.
Andrew Cuff of the Commonwealth Foundation suggests that a Democratic presidential candidate who advocates school choice will gain an edge over his competitors — given the popularity of school choice among Democratic voters.
How about it, Joe? Flip-flop again.
But this time in favor of freedom.
And better education.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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2 replies on “A Flip-Flop, Not an Echo”
Suppose Biden does a flip-flop on education? Why should I believe anything he says during the campaign?
Bill Clinton promised a middle class tax cut and then proceeded to enact the largest tax increase in American history.
While promoting ACA, Barack Obama famously said: ‘if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor’. We all know how that turned out.
Biden’s opposition has forced him to move further and further to the left, and he was already pretty far left to begin with. As a life-long taxpayer-funded “public servant”, bureaucracy is all he knows.
AMEN Pat, AMEN.
The dems are for the same issues they are against. Just depends on when you ask the question.
What a dumpster fire this is…