Denver Post Editors Hit Back-to-Back Homers for Students, Parents

My dad told me about these crinkly pieces of paper with print on them that people used to get, something they would read to find out what’s going on in the world. I guess they’re called “newspapers”? Apparently, some websites actually have newspapers, or so I’m told.

The last few days, the editors of one of these publications, the Denver Post, have got me thinking maybe I should take a look. Because I’m definitely taking heart. First, there was the ruling in the Douglas County choice scholarship case. You already may have seen my reaction to that.

How crazy is it then that yours truly almost could have written the Post editorial that came out shortly thereafter, titled “A regrettable ruling on Dougco’s school voucher program”:

…[I]f the court is serious that the Blaine Amendment outlaws even payments to parents who make their own choice about where their child goes to school, then the implications are disturbingly far-reaching.

Great question: What other programs are liable to be threatened or shut down… Right? We’ve been through that, and also through the silver lining provided by the chance to take this case to the U.S. Supreme Court “to challenge and defeat the ugly Blaine Amendments once and for all.” At least that’s how my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow put it on a new Freedom Minute video:

To dig a little deeper into the hopeful possibility, read Rick Hess’s new National Review piece.

It’s sad that most of the Colorado Supreme Court justices wanted to discriminate against those who would choose a religious school. But does that mean Dougco or some other district could create a scholarship program for students to attend just non-religious private schools? Hmmm… stay tuned.

Having expressed their disappointment at Monday’s big education ruling, the Post‘s editors turned around and expressed their disapproval of the “misuse of political recall” in Jeffco. Their reprimand includes an important reminder:

It’s important to remember the context of the education disputes in Jeffco. The union and its supporters, including two board members, were rattled by the unexpected victories of three conservatives in 2013 and the departure of longtime superintendent Cindy Stevenson. They deplore the board’s initiatives on funding for teacher pay and charter schools, among other things.

Opponents of the current Jeffco school board majority have ginned up enough angst that it will be a worthy task to review their claims for accuracy during the coming days and weeks. I feel very confident that for most people willing to pay attention, such closer scrutiny would only make the Denver Post‘s point even stronger.

If you allow me to use a baseball analogy (actually, I don’t care if you allow me because that’s what I want to do), the Post just hit back-to-back home runs for parents and students, for educational freedom and commonsense reform. And yes, that’s little old me sitting in the bleachers starting the wave.

I guess it might be time to finally look more carefully into getting a real subscription to one of these newspaper things.