Pell Grants get 'chilly reception' from liberals

Pell Grants get 'chilly reception' from liberals

President Bush's new school choice initiative is getting rave reviews from education reform advocates -- but chilly receptions from liberal teachers unions and Democrats in Congress.

Bush is calling on Congress to support his $300 million "Pell Grants for Kids" program that would give low-income children in failing public schools a chance to attend a private, religious, or out-of-district public school. Bush's plan is modeled after a 2004 proposal by Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee), a former secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.

Dan Lips is the education analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington. He praises the president's plan. "President Bush is right to use the bully pulpit to highlight to the nation that we need to help the millions of kids who are currently stuck in low-performing public schools," explains Lips.

But Lips thinks the initiative will garner little support, given the current political situation on Capitol Hill. He says teachers unions work "aggressively" to take educational choices away from parents because they believe parents do not deserve that choice.

Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), who chairs the Senate Health, Labor and Education Committee, criticized Bush's new Pell Grants plan. He argued that it would drain money from public schools, and accused the president of failing to adequately fund his signature education reform law -- No Child Left Behind. But Bush says that Pell grants for low-income college students have successfully helped those young people "reach their full potential."