by Peg Luksik
The Pennsylvania State Senate is currently debating a new school choice bill. Among its provisions, the bill would create a state board to administer funds, called opportunity scholarships, to enable some children to attend an educational institution other than the public school of the district in which those children reside.
The bill begins with “legislative findings”, or statements of the basic principles upon which the language of the proposed law will be based. The findings stipulate that “Parents are best suited to choose the most appropriate means of education for their school-age children. Providing diverse educational opportunities for the children of this Commonwealth is a civic and civil rights imperative and a matter of serious concern.”
If those sentences are correct, and it is a civil rights issue to make sure that parents have the ability to choose the most appropriate means to educate their children, then the language of the bill should reflect that sentiment. It should include all parents, because if something is actually a civil right, it cannot legitimately be denied to some and given to others by an act of government.
If the government can determine who is accorded a right, and who is not, then the “right” in question is no longer a right – it is a privilege.
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