How Long Must We Wait?

Published May 1, 2000

While voucher opponents applauded Judge L. Ralph Smith Jr.’s decision to bar parents from using private school vouchers to get their children out of failing public schools, the Center for New Black Leadership vowed to support an appeal, saying the ruling left low-income students trapped in “substandard educational wastelands.”

“All children deserve a quality education, not next week, not next year, but now!” declared Phyllis Berry Myers, the Center’s executive director. “How long do black and Hispanic children have to wait?”

“I applaud Governor [Jeb] Bush for fulfilling our nation’s promise to every child that he or she will receive a quality education, regardless of race, class, ethnicity or geography,” said Myers, pointing out that middle-class parents already have removed their children from failing public schools “because they have the resources to do so.”