The Wall Street Journal-20080205-Pell Grants for Kids Are Vouchers Writ Small

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Pell Grants for Kids Are Vouchers Writ Small

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Regarding your editorial "Those Pell Vouchers" (Jan. 30): President Bush's Pell Grants for Kids proposal is a voucher scheme undeserving of the Pell name. Pell Grants are intended to provide access to higher education for low-income students who might otherwise be unable to attend college. Vouchers, on the other hand, have been widely discredited as an educational panacea. The $300 million for President Bush's latest voucher venture would be much better invested in underperforming public schools that need the most help. Rather than reflexively supporting every voucher program that comes down the pike, the Journal would do better to support programs that, unlike vouchers, have been shown to improve student achievement, such as high-quality early childhood education, smaller class sizes, sensible testing and fair accountability measures.

Edward J. McElroy

President

American Federation of Teachers

Washington