(Guest post by Greg Forster)
Today the Oklahoman carries my latest op-ed on the research showing school choice is a win-win solution. The op-ed is adapted from my recent OCPA article on school choice myths in Oklahoma. There was no space in the Oklahoman to discuss those Oklahomans who believe that the reason school choice doesn’t work is because poor parents are lazy and shiftless. My focus instead was on claims that choice is “unproven”:
The Oklahoma Education Coalition (OEC), for example, repeats a large number of long-discredited myths about school choice. Here’s one: “Vouchers are unproven as a means of consistently or significantly improving student achievement for all students…. Research on voucher programs in other states shows vouchers have been costly but offers no confidence that vouchers will improve achievement among participating students.”
In case you’re wondering about the terminology, OEC insists for some reason that we must refer to ESAs as “vouchers.” Their arguments are so bankrupt on the merits that their only hope of persuading people to reject ESAs is by changing the label to something they think has negative emotional associations. Fortunately, the word “vouchers” has never really been a liability for the school choice movement.
Attentive readers of JPGB won’t be surprised at what follows. Your comments, as always, are welcome!
Jay P. Greene's Blog 
Greg, can you tell us which Oklahomans or how many Oklahomans said “poor parents are lazy and shiftless?” I never met any Arkansans or Oklahomans who said anything like that while I was in Arkansas.
Follow the link!
I did. Don’t see anyone saying that. Please provide reference.
I did. Don’t see anyone saying that. Please provide reference. I’ve followed all the links you gave. You seem to be the only person saying that!
Here it is again:
http://www.ocpathink.org/article/why-are-school-choice-opponents-afraid-of-the-facts
I’ve read your link several times. No one is quoted as saying what you claim was said about poor parents. You have a stronger case if you don’t mis-paraphrase the critics of vouchers.
I provided the full quote in my piece, so I’d invite readers to judge for themselves whether I misparaphrased him.