We're thinking of the children...really!

The puppeteers from the national educational establishment are pulling the strings of their Senate friends to make sure they protect themselves. Oh sure, they say they're watching out for the children, but I invite you to read this and tell me with a straight face that the NEA has the kids' best interests at heart:

When Hurricane Katrina left 372,000 without schools, President Bush responded with a plea to Congress to provide educational aid to every displaced child, regardless of where they found refuge — in public, private, or religious schools. Louisiana's Democratic senator Mary Landrieu and her Republican counterpart David Vitter immediately followed suit with an across-the-board relief bill.

But soon, groups like the National Education Association and the National School Boards Association expressed outrage. They strongly objected to public funds being channeled to private schools in order to accommodate displaced children.

The handmaidens in Congress quickly followed suit, saying that now is not the time for a debate over vouchers. Senator Ted Kennedy proposed a bill that would provide aid only to public schools — and explicitly not private schools — that have taken in displaced children. Kennedy has been joined inexplicably by Wyoming's Republican senator Michael Enzi.

Now it appears Kennedy and Enzi are backing off somewhat, but they still only want to allow aid to go to private-school students after being channeled through public schools. If it is not defeated, this measure will add yet another unnecessary layer of regulation to a relief effort that has already been strangled by red tape.

Unlike Kennedy, the hurricane did not discriminate between children attending public and private schools. Owing to the abysmal condition of New Orleans public schools, roughly one-third of the schoolchildren in the most ravaged parts of Louisiana already were attending private schools. Many of their families, like so many others, lost everything in the flood.

The scores of private and religious schools around the nation that have opened their doors to displaced schoolchildren deserve prompt and equal compensation. Some Catholic schools in Houston are reportedly operating double shifts to accommodate children from Louisiana and Mississippi. But while public schools that are extending a helping hand can expect reimbursement, private and religious schools may not be so fortunate — not, at least, if Kennedy and his fellow sponsors have their way.

A third of those kids go to private school? The schools are so bad that the Louisiana house of representatives (in which Democrats hold 66 of the 105 seats) passed a voucher program this year, but it failed in the state senate (24D-15R).

It's shenanigans like this that cause me to have no respect for the teacher's unions and advocacy organizations — if they were really concerned about the kids, they'd let parents make their own choices about their child's education instead of advocating a "My-way-or-the-highway" perspective on public education. Of course, they understand all-too-well why they have to take a "me-first" attitude against private education — if vouchers were in place, the sprint out of public school (particularly in the inner cities of America) would leave them in the dust and without a job.

If they'd take that knowledge and find ways to better serve the taxpayers (other than putting a hand out for more money more money more money), maybe the cry for education equity would be reduced to a dull roar instead of a crescendoing scream.

By the way, before you post nasty comments that I'm disparaging the efforts of teachers, think again. I'm not talking about the teachers; I'm talking about the organizations that purport to represent them.