School choice bills advance, but in the Senate, the bloody shirt is waiting

By Norman Leahy | Saturday, February 11th, 2012 | Policy, Politics, Virginia

An education tax credit bill patroned by Del. Jimmie Massie is beginning its march through the House, having cleared both a Finance subcommittee and the full committee by a 15-7 vote. The bill’s aims are rather modest, as it would create “scholarships to students who would have been eligible for the free and reduced lunch program under federal law,” and the pool of credits would be capped at $25 million.

These limits are all the reason some need to call for the bill’s demise — another case of making the perfect the blood enemy of the good.

Purist posturing aside, the real threat to any and all varieties of these choice bills has been the Virginia Senate, and specifically, the Senate Finance committee. When Democrat Chuck Colgan wielded the the chairman’s gavel (always under the watchful eye of then-majority leader Dick Saslaw), education choice legislation was guaranteed to fail. The only real question was how much theater some Democratic committee members would add to the puppet show.

That the Senate and its Finance committee are now under Republican control does not mean that brighter days are ahead for school choice. My sources indicate that some Republican mandarins are demanding further dilutions of the bills — otherwise they just won’t be able to support them.

For years, Republicans have mouthed their support for education reform. But they’ve generally recoiled at sweeping reforms, preferring instead to nibble at the edges. There are good political reasons for this, as Democrats will fight to the last child, alongside the VEA and other groups, in defense of the status quo.

And they fight dirty. Democrats raise the specter of Massive Resistance whenever the words “school choice” pass a Republican’s lips. Or, as seen in the clip below of Sen. Yvonne Miller, educational choice is just code for slavery:

These are the kinds of arguments that would make zealots blush. But they have been effective — so effective in the Senate, at least, that Republicans who might otherwise be willing to take bold steps on school choice are cowed by the thought of it.

In the days ahead, we shall see whether even a mild and limited choice bills can earn sufficient Republican support to get through the Senate Finance committee and on to the floor. If the bills succeed, then there’s hope that the ragged rage Sen. Miller gave voice to is losing its punch. If the bills fail, then we will know that the bloody shirt still has the power to terrify even the most secure of Republican incumbents.

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