Norton Blasts Meadows for Introducing Bill to Radically Alter D.C.’s Local Education System
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today blasted Representative Mark Meadows (R-NC), the chair of the House subcommittee with jurisdiction over the District of Columbia and the leader of the far-right Freedom Caucus, for reintroducing a bill that would radically alter D.C.'s local education system by forcing D.C. to steer its local funds away from D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) and public charter schools to vouchers for any student who chooses to attend private schools. Norton said Meadows seems to be taking marching orders from Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who introduced the same bill last week. This far-right bill is far worse and intrusive than the existing D.C. private school voucher program, which uses federal funds. The bill would also force D.C. to use its local funds to pay for other educational expenses such as private online classes. Last Congress, the Republican-controlled House and Senate roundly rejected all amendments to establish national voucher programs as part of the bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
"My friend Representative Meadows apparently does not have enough going on with a looming government shutdown that he decided to go back to one of his favorite pastimes—abusing congressional authority to attack D.C. home rule and our local laws," Norton said. "Representative Meadows, the chair on the most conservative caucus in the Congress, should reread some of his past statements on local control over local affairs and his calls to respect the choices of local jurisdictions. If Representative Meadows truly believes private vouchers are the best policy, he should introduce a bill to create a national voucher program, well within the appropriate purview of Congress. Instead, he picks on the District's educational system, which already boasts robust school choice with our public charter schools, which nearly half of our public school students attend. We will defeat this radical bill, as we did last Congress."
Meadows is a frequent offender of D.C. home rule. He has led the effort in the House to repeal the referendum passed overwhelmingly by D.C. voters in 2013 that granted the District budget autonomy. Last Congress, he introduced a standalone bill, which passed the House, to repeal the budget autonomy referendum, the text of which has been included in the fiscal years 2017 and 2018 House-passed D.C. appropriations bills. However, Norton has kept the referendum from being overturned. Last Congress, Meadows introduced a bill to interfere with and alter D.C.'s local occupational licensing laws and require the District to create a new legislative committee or subcommittee on occupational regulations, which Norton kept from moving forward. Last Congress, Meadows was one of the most vocal supporters of a House-passed disapproval resolution to nullify a local D.C. anti-discrimination law, the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act, which Norton kept from becoming law. In the 113th Congress, he introduced a bill to redefine the District government as a federal agency and prohibit it from deducting union dues from employee paychecks. Norton said that her success in keeping anti-home-rule bills from being enacted seems to not deter Meadows and other anti-democratic Members of Congress from introducing such bills. "Some Members simply seek to burnish their right-wing credentials at the expense of the District of Columbia," Norton said.