When I was president of the Conservative Students Coalition at
St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco, CA, I was used
to being called a racist. A Nazi. A fascist. Even a “conservative
piece of garbage.” With Nancy Pelosi as my representative in the
House, you can see how I felt a bit out of place.
I allowed these sophomoric taunts to fade as quickly as I
vacated the Bay Area after graduation.
Yet liberal taunts and accusations follow me today in the
professional world, most prominently in Sam Tanenhaus’s article
“Original Sin: Why the GOP Is and Will Continue to Be the Party of
White People” in The New Republic. If you haven’t read it,
it essentially maintains that the modern Republican Party is the
“party of white people” because of its conservative roots in the
1950s.
Tanenhaus’s central argument is that modern Republicans
associate themselves with pro-slavery Southerner John Calhoun. This
“Calhoun revival, based on his complex theories of constitutional
democracy, became the justification for conservative politicians to
resist, ignore, or even overturn the will of the electoral
majority.”
In past years, Tanenhaus has refused to confront
conservatives at all; the esteemed R. Emmett Tyrrell even offered
him a “friendly
hand.” If he had, maybe he would have realized the diverse
intricacy of the Republican Party.
Alas, he is simply wrong.
As Bob Tyrrell writes, “the Republican Party, too, has all kinds
of exciting characters in it.”
It is these exciting characters, especially our innovative
governors, who disprove this notion of Republican racism.
Over the ensuing weeks, I will showcase the policies of several
different Republican governors, displaying who we are and where we
can go as a party.
First, let us remember the benefits of a republican form of
government. The governors who I will examine seek policies that
promote the general welfare through the republican system.
James Madison wrote in Federalist 10 that “it may well happen
that the public voice, pronounced by the representatives of the
people, will be more consonant to the public good than if
pronounced by the people themselves, convened for the
purpose.”
Republican governors seek public policies that authentically
promote the general welfare. One of the most important issues for
the empowerment of individuals is education.
Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana
Gov. Bobby Jindal has improved the lives of thousands of poor
students in Louisiana with his school choice policies, providing a
grand example of Madison’s ideal governing style.
Jindal emphasized the need for education reform in a speech from
2012 on the expansion of the Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP):
“If we truly want to improve economic development, if we truly want
to improve health care outcomes and lower our incarceration rates,
it all comes back to providing our children with a better
education.”
According to the Times-Picayune, the citizens love his
school choice policies; last year, 60 percent of respondents
supported the expansion of the LSP.
In a state where 66% of students receive free or subsidized
lunches, education is incredibly important for economic
advancement.
In effect since 2008, the LSP, formerly the Student Scholarships
for Education Excellence Program, has offered thousands of poor
children scholarships for “high-performing” public schools,
parochial schools, and private academies.
The idea is to give the poorest students in the worst public
schools a chance to attend a better school.
The state finances the scholarships through the Department of
Education, specifically the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP). The
MFP allocates funding for education to each school district,
varying the amounts based on degree of wealth; these range from
$6,729 to $10,624 per pupil. After the Program allocates this
funding to public school districts, it rewards scholarship grants
to students who enroll in the program.
To be
eligible, students must either be entering kindergarten in a
family making an income below 250% of the federal poverty level, or
be matriculated in a public school with a letter grade of C, D, or
F.
After Governor Jindal expanded the Scholarship Program this year
with Act 2, more than 10,400 students applied. Almost 5,000 of them
enrolled with the grants, 91% of them minorities.
“More than 10,400 students applied for a scholarship for the
2012-2013 school year, and just under 5,000 students were awarded a
seat. This shows parents want better educational options in
Louisiana,” explained Stephanie Ryan, the Louisiana communications
associate for the American Federation for Children, in an
email.
For the current school year, 118 schools participated, but all
but one of them were private. In the coming year, 134 different
schools are participating.
While the 5,000 students currently enrolled receive a great
education, much work still needs to be done to open accessibility
and confront opponents.
The Louisiana Federation of Teachers and the Louisiana School
Boards Association, along with 43 school boards, joined a lawsuit
against the state, arguing that public school funds should not go
to private academies.
This explains the lack of participation by public schools in the
LSP: prohibition by school boards.
“Additionally, one of the biggest reasons that public schools
are not participating is that many school boards have not allowed
individual schools to decide whether they will participate,” Ryan
wrote.
In November, the lawsuit resulted in the funding mechanism being
ruled unconstitutional.
Judge Tim Kelley of Louisiana’s 19th Judicial
District
ruled that the state’s constitution mandated public funds only
go to public schools, essentially nullifying funding through the
Minimum Foundation Program.
Kelley ruled that the state constitution must be read literally
in its clause that the MFP must only “insure a minimum foundation
of education in all public elementary and secondary schools.”
The case will now go to the Louisiana Supreme Court on March
19.
While Jindal’s administration is hopeful the Court will overturn
Kelley’s ruling, the Department of Education is committed to
ensuring the program remains in operation.
We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will overturn the November
court ruling from the 19th Judicial District
court,” Ryan confirmed. “However, the Louisiana Department of
Education and Governor Bobby Jindal’s administration are fully
committed to ensuring the program will continue, no matter what the
ruling is in March.”
Jindal is also responsible for opening charter schools in New
Orleans in a state where over 33,000 students now
attend charters.
Not just relying on public funds, the governor also allowed for
a maximum $5,000 tax deduction for private school tuition in
2011.
Education, as Dr. Ben Carson emphasizes
here, empowers every individual to be free. Republicans realize
that it is essential for this republic.
The more than 4,000 minority students who now attend better
schools know it too.
This is the Republican Party today. Our ideas will advance the
country’s future.
