School-voucher backers get one of their silliest arguments destroyed - by Jeb Bush
There are a lot of fiery debates where I truly understand both sides of an issue – and can even respect both sides.
School vouchers are one of those issues. I get it.
But there are also issues where it’s hard to take debaters seriously, because they are more interested in manipulating words than having honest debates.
School vouchers are one of those issues as well.
Ever since Florida implemented school vouchers under Jeb Bush, many of Bush’s “reform” disciples have been on a crusade to try to stop people from calling them vouchers.
Instead, they have insisted they were “scholarships.”
Now, I’ve always been of the opinion that you can call a pile of dog poop a tricycle. It’s still a pile of dog poop.
But Florida’s voucher disciples have been relentless about this, chasting anyone who tried to use the word.
(Evidence No. 1: “Why it is wrong and misleading to call FL’s tax credit scholarship a ‘voucher.”)
See what they did there? You can’t have a "voucher" debate if we don’t have vouchers.
Anyway, this silly debate is now over – because Bush himself ended it.
I don’t know whether it was an accident or not. But when Bush was trying to burnish his conservative credentials during last weeks Republican debate on Fox News, he declared the following:
“I created the first statewide voucher program in the country. The second statewide voucher program in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country.”
That’s right. After more than a decade of Bush’s education errandboys trying to manipulate words, Bush said what everyone knew all along – that they were full of it.
As I said at the beginning, folks are still free to debate the merits of vouchers. It's a fair one.
But I hope this puts to bed any further silliness about how Florida’s program is really just a “scholarship.”School voucher backers had one of their silliest arguments destroyed - by Jeb Bush - Orlando Sentinel: