Although this wonderful news happened three months ago, I just found out about it now: the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against Obama’s attempt to keep low income black children trapped in horrible government schools.
Some background information…
In August 2013, the Obama administration sued Louisiana to try to bring an end to its school voucher program – a program which had just been passed in 2012.
Under the Louisiana program, both of the following criteria had to be met in order for a student to get a school voucher. First, the student must come from a family whose income is below 250% of the poverty level. And second, the current public school that the student is attending must be rated as “C” or below.
86% of students who received vouchers had used those vouchers to flee from public schools which had been rated as “D” or “F.”
Only the most vulnerable children were eligible for the vouchers – the poorest students attending the worst schools.
Obama’s reason for filing the lawsuit was that “many of those vouchers impeded the desegregation process.”
However, in response to Obama’s claim that the vouchers discriminated against blacks, Louisiana Education Superintendent John White pointed out that almost all of the students using the vouchers were black, and said that “it’s a little ridiculous” for Obama to claim that these vouchers caused discrimination against blacks. The Washington Post reported that 90% of the students who received the vouchers were black.
It’s also worth noting that only students whose parents requested such vouchers were eligible to participate in the voucher program. Obama was therefore claiming that parents wanted their own children to be discriminated against. Obama was extremely wrong on this. These parents did not want their children to be discriminated against. In reality, what these parents wanted was for their children to have a chance at a better education.
This also makes Obama a hypocrite, because while he was living in both Chicago and Washington D.C., he always sent his own children to private schools. Does Obama really want us to believe that he subjected his own children to racial discrimination by sending them to private schools?
Furthermore, two different studies, one by Ph.D. students at the University of Arkansas, and the other sponsored by the state of Louisiana, both found that this voucher program made racial integration better, not worse. This further proves that Obama is a liar, and that his entire claim against these vouchers is bogus.
In September 2013, the Washington Post editorial board criticized Obama in this editorial, which is titled, “The Justice Department bids to trap poor, black children in ineffective schools.”
In April 2014, the Daily Signal published this article, which is titled, “Meet one of the students Eric Holder is blocking by standing in the schoolhouse door.”
Fortunately, in November 2015, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Obama’s attempt to keep low income black children trapped in horrible government schools. The court’s ruling can be read here.
