WASHINGTON - Giving poor parents vouchers to send their children to private schools is a matter of human rights, the founder of Silverton, Ohio's private Marva Collins Preparatory School told a congressional subcommittee Tuesday.

        “You have the power to save a desperate people or let them perish,” Cleaster Whitehurst-Mims told the House subcommittee on the Constitution.

        “Today, too many parents, mostly black, are trapped. ... It is about human rights.”

Cleaster Whitehurst-Mims testifies on voucher programs before a congressional subcommittee Tuesday. (Gannett News Service photo) | ZOOM |

        The hearing came three months after the Supreme Court upheld Cleveland's private school voucher program.

        The decision delighted backers of vouchers such as Ms. Whitehurst-Mims.

        “It is now up to Congress to help fulfill the promise of the Supreme Court's decision,” said Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, chairman of the subcommittee.

        “This hearing will start a discussion of Congress' ability to do so.”

        That drew ridicule from Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who said Mr. Chabot's subcommittee had no jurisdiction over education issues, rendering the hearing little more than a seminar.

        “No one should think that any legislation will or could come from this hearing,” he said. “That's probably a good thing.”

        The Rev. Timothy McDonald of Atlanta, a voucher opponent, said vouchers simply would suck money from public schools and subsidize schools that may promote hate or discrimination in their religious teachings.

        The Marva Collins school is not religious.

        It serves mostly low- to middle-income families, and most of the students are black.

        Many are students classified as having attention deficit disorder; the school bars Ritalin, a drug used to treat the disorder. Uniforms and parental involvement are required.

        With 210 students in the spacious former St. Theresa's Home for the Aged, the school could open its doors to another 500 if vouchers suddenly were made available, Ms. Whitehurst-Mims said.

        The curriculum, for pre-school through eighth grade, is based on the principles of educator Marva Collins, who more than 25 years ago founded Westside Preparatory School in Chicago.

        Ms. Collins' goal was to take those children considered unteachable and turn them into scholars.

        The parents who send their children sometimes work two jobs to pay the tuition, and the school scrounges for donations. Ms. Whitehurst-Mims said.

        The Marva Collins Preparatory School charges $3,400 a year tuition.

        “What our school gives to parents is hope,” she said.

        But politicians who are endlessly debating vouchers, rather than acting, are snuffing out hope, she said.

        “I am here to plead for the human side, not the right or the left,” she said.

        Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, who chairs the House education committee, has been pushing for vouchers - or “scholarships” as he calls them - for more than a decade.

        Support in Congress is rising, he said, but not enough to make vouchers the law of the land.

        “It's continuing to grow,” he said.

        “We're just not quite there yet.”

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