Alfonse D'Amato

School choice should remain an important election issue

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Donald Trump has promoted several issues that have incited the public, and caused Hillary Clinton and the left wing to waiver and then question their stances on key issues.

Surprisingly, Trump hasn’t been a champion of many of the more traditional conservative causes, except one major one — school choice, an issue that has also caused a drastic rift among Democrats. He recently proposed a $20 billion block grant for states, to be funded by redirecting federal education money to support charter schools and vouchers. He has also announced that he endorses merit pay for teachers, another controversial education issue.

Trump would prefer to shift the use of federal funds to boost vouchers so that parents of schoolchildren would be able to effectively choose where the funding goes rather than the federal government. Trump has said, “There is no failed policy in need of more urgent change than our government-run education monopoly.”

He’s not wrong. It makes me wonder whether the Democratic Party cares more about our youth, the future of this country, or the tens of millions of dollars in donations that the left receives from the powerful teachers unions nationwide. It’s time to put our children before special interests.

Clinton and her colleagues on the left have a long history of opposing programs that empower parents and widen their options to choose the way their children are educated. Like President Obama, Clinton has touted proposals to block education grants to states. It’s disappointing that she and her colleagues would be against empowering parents and giving them that freedom.

In New York City, charter schools have become the public school system’s competition. For years the public school system has under-performed and let down the city’s families. Multiple studies have shown that students who come from lower-income families or who are English language learners have higher success rates in charter schools than their public school counterparts.

An issue like this could push Trump over the top in several key swing states. Clinton was out of the picture, resting before Monday’s debate, while Trump was on the road in states like North Carolina that support the school choice initiative.

Trump was leading Clinton in North Carolina, Nevada and Ohio thanks to strong support from the working class and independent voters. While homeland security and the economy are topics on which many people want concrete answers to their questions, we shouldn’t forget about the future of our children’s education.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a terror scare in New York City that hit very close to home. Just days after the 15-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the threat of terrorism became very real, right in the middle of Manhattan.

We are extremely fortunate to have the services of the very best law enforcement. In just 48 hours, our police and other law enforcement, with the help of private citizens, hunted down and captured terrorist bomber Ahmad Khan Rahami. It was an outstanding victory for the NYPD and the FBI.

There are many questions that still must be answered. Did Rahami act alone? Was there any foreign involvement in the terror plot? Where did he get the firearm he used to attack the arresting police with? And whom did he meet with on his trips to Pakistan and Afghanistan?

More astounding, but not surprising, was the fact that Obama refused to label this attack an act of terrorism. To call it anything else is a disservice to the American people. When will this administration learn?

My good friend U.S. Rep. Pete King said it best: “There must be increased surveillance of Muslim communities, including the use of under-covers and informers. This is not profiling or racist; it is common-sense police work. Homeland and national security come before political correctness!”

This was a domestic terror attack on the people of New York and New Jersey. Unfortunately, in this day and age we must prepare for more attacks like this one. The phrase “See something, say something” has never been more important.

Al D’Amato, a former U.S. senator from New York, is the founder of Park Strategies LLC, a public policy and business development firm. Comments about this column? ADAmato@liherald.com.