Cheryl Kirk is a writer for the Indy/Ed Blog and took serious issue with comments made by Sen. Al Franken during the DeVos confirmation hearings. She penned an open letter to the Senator, specifically taking issue with this statement he made in regards to the school choice options available to parents in Indiana:
Basically what was happening is we were taking money from poor kids needing resources and giving it to middle class kids to continue going to religious school.
Kirk responds:
This statement is proof that you either do not understand school funding or made the choice to deliberately mislead the public. If, as you claim, the children are middle class children from the suburbs, then their per pupil dollars would reduce the money at their suburban schools, not the urban schools you claim are losing all the money.
And perhaps even more glaring is that you totally failed to mention that Indiana’s poor and minority children have been under-educated for decades. And for generations. This is precisely why school choice came to be in Indiana. I have two children graduating in a little over a year and when they started high school every Indianapolis Public school had a D or F rating.
She goes on to take Franken to task for sending his children to a $40,000+/year private school in New York, known for education the children of celebrities and royalty.
“Minnesota Sen. Al Franken’s two children attend Dalton School, described by the liberal-leaning Daily Beast as “one of New York’s most exclusive and rigorous private schools and boasts an impressive roster of celebrity alumni, including Anderson Cooper and Claire Danes.” Dalton’s application asks parents to list any prestigious titles they hold, including, “Princess, Senate and Ambassador,” according to TheDaily Beast.Franken describes Dalton as “a very high-powered, expensive New York City private high school.” How expensive? Dalton’s tuition is currently $44,640 a year.”