School Choice Is the New Civil Rights Struggle by Wall Street Journal

 It seems unlikely that readers of this blog will see the following article in the local papers. A link to the Wall Street Journal's  very interesting  article appears in the WSJ widget that appears in the right hand column of this site. To to be certain that readers get to it I have posted a teaser below.

FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL



School Choice Is the New Civil Rights Struggle
A word of support from the president could transform local politics on the issue.

By BRENDAN MINITER

Getting arrested doesn't normally bolster a politician's credibility. But when South Carolina state Sen. Robert Ford told me recently that he saw the inside of a jail cell 73 times, he did so to make a point. As a youth, Mr. Ford cut his political teeth in tumultuous 1960s civil-rights protests.Today this black Democrat says the new civil-rights struggle is about the quality of instruction in public schools, and that to receive a decent education African-Americans need school choice. He wants the president's help. "We need choice like Obama has. He can send his kids to any school he wants."
Mr. Ford was once like many Democrats on education -- a reliable vote against reforms that would upend the system. But over the past three and a half years he's studied how school choice works and he's now advocating tax credits and scholarships that parents can spend on public or private schools.more