Imagine our surprise when a little scuffle over a college grant program in this state turned into a little scuffle over school choice. And lawmakers of both parties were making the case for choice in education. Hallelujah and hooray! Sometimes the news really is good, even when the Arkansas General Assembly is in session.
On Wednesday, the state Senate's education committee turned down a bill that would have moved money around to pay some tuition for folks going to two-year colleges and technical schools. That's the bad news.
The good news is, right in the middle of the debate, our lawmakers were falling over themselves to see who could promote school choice the loudest.
You see, the new program wouldn't have paid for tuition at private colleges, and there are a handful of private colleges here and there, especially three historically black campuses in central Arkansas. Which made a couple of state senators--namely Joyce Elliott and Linda Chesterfield--question the bill.
Sen. Elliott said the measure discriminated. Sen. Chesterfield said the bill would harm the economy. Or as Sen. Chesterfield put it: "I think it's extremely unfortunate that we have chosen--in a state where we're talking about choice all the time--we have chosen to exclude a huge base of the economic development of this state."
So they're pro-school choice now?
If this is true, then we look forward to the next debate on charter schools and vouchers for lower-income kids to go to better K-12 schools. And look forward to support from a couple of state senators on the matter. Namely Joyce Elliott and Linda Chesterfield.
We agree with you, senators, these private two-year schools should be included. The purpose of the program is to get students more education and skills for future employment, and students and their families, not the state government, should make those choices on which college, public or private, is best for them. Come into the tent, senators! There's a lot of room.
Editorial on 02/18/2017