Not Free to Choose- D.C. students and parents rally for school choice

In the Weekly Standard Online, Sheryl Blunt writes that the push for school vouchers in Washington DC is creating an odd alliance between conservative school choice supporters and traditionally liberal-leaning African Americans groups.

Supporters say the program has been a lifeline for D.C.'s schoolchildren, whose crime-ridden public schools rank worst in the nation. According to the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress report, by the time D.C. students reach the 8th grade, only 12 percent are proficient in reading and only eight percent are proficient in math. Only nine percent will graduate from college within five years.

"D.C. public schools are horrible," said Tania Phillips, who was attending the rally with her daughter's class from Nannie Helen Borroughs private school in Northeast, where her daughter attends by virtue of a scholarship. "If my child has to go back to public schools, she will not go back to D.C. public schools."