Project Katrina

I stumbled across this editorial in the Wall Street Journal and feel sick to my stomach.

Catholic schools in New Orleans. That damaged city’s public schools remain closed, but at least eight of its 35 private Catholic schools are already back teaching, less than three months after Katrina. Here’s a modest proposal to help that city’s poorest kids: Don’t reopen any of the old public schools, 102 of 117 of which were performing below the state average in any case. Make the entire city a charter and voucher testing ground, and watch the creative spirit of teachers, entrepreneurs and students start to flow.

In my opinion most conservatives honestly want to improve public schools by focusing on testing and accountability. However, others are just interested in destroying the public school system. I guess we can put the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal in that second group.