Berkowitz w/Barack Obama on School Choice, School Vouchers and racial profiling
Sen. Obama: What I am persuaded by is that there a bunch of creative ways-- whether it is charters creating competition within the schools, or thinking about tax programs that potentially facilitate low income persons to exercise various options-- I think all those things are on the table...
Tonight's City of Chicago edition of Public Affairs features Barack Obama being interviewed on July 13, 2000 by show host Jeff Berkowitz primarily about education issues, with some racial profiling issues also touched on.
The show with the much younger (no gray hair) and then State SenatorBarack Obama airs tonight throughout the City of Chicago at 8:30 pm and midnight on Cable Ch. 21 [CAN TV].
The format for the interview is quite a bit more spontaneous and free wheeling than is President Obama's current practice. Show topics include, among other items, how to evaluate teachers, teacher accountability, the National Education Association, competition in education, school choice, charter schools, school vouchers, racial profiling in traffic stops across the State of Illinois and whether race should ever be a factor in a policeman stopping someone.
Jeff Berkowitz: ...under a school voucher system, they could take that money and if they want to supplement it-- and some people have $2500 to supplement it, and the public schools are competing, and that person wants to drive an hour a day to get here (to Winnetka), they can do it:
Sen. Barack Obama: Right.
Jeff Berkowitz: ... And they are not going to have to come to Winnetka [to improve their school choice]. They can go to a variety of areas a lot closer where the [private] schools may be better [than the Chicago Public Schools].
Sen. Barack Obama: Assuming that the schools get created down there [in the City] to supplement the public schools. Let me just say this: I think this is a legitimate debate to have. I think it is going to continue-
Jeff Berkowitz: So, you are open to the possibility that you may become persuaded that vouchers are a good thing?
Sen. Obama: What I am persuaded by is that there a bunch of creative ways-- whether it is charters creating competition within the schools, or thinking about tax programs that potentially facilitate low income persons to exercise various options-- I think all those things are on the table and I think what we should be doing is, what in fact is taking place right now not just in Illinois but around the country, a lot of different experiments to see how in fact we can make sure that we've got better educational outcomes.Berkowitz w/Barack Obama on School Choice, School Vouchers and racial profiling: On cable tonight | Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz: