Democrat Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman opposes private-school vouchers for poor families while sending his children to an elite prep school, The Washington Free Beacon reported.
Fetterman, who lives in one of Pennsylvania's worst performing school districts, sent his kids to the Winchester Thurston School in Pittsburgh, the Free Beacon reported Friday.
Pennsylvania's 11th best private school according to rankings, Winston Thurston charges up to $34,250 for a "dynamic" learning environment and an "innovative" approach to teaching.
If they didn't attend Winston Thurston — where Fetterman and his wife Gisele have sent at least one of their three kids during the past seven years — the children otherwise would go to schools in Woodland Hills School District, where graduation rates are far below the state average.
"Shame on him," David P. Hardy, a distinguished senior fellow at the Commonwealth Foundation and co-founder of Boys' Latin of Philadelphia charter school, told the Free Beacon.
"Fetterman could send his kids to [Woodland Hills], but he's got money, so he can send them somewhere else. But the poor people there are stuck going to those schools, and he doesn't give them any way out."
Fetterman appears to be going against his suggestion that children should attend public schools.
"American history must be taught in America's public schools — the good, the bad, and the horrific," he said in an apparent reference to the debate over critical race theory. "That's what @giselefetterman and I want for our kids."
Fetterman, the state's current lieutenant governor, is being hypocritical for sending his own kids to a private school, critics say.
While criticizing Republican opponent Mehmet Oz's wealth, Fetterman has called for increased funding for public schools and has opposed vouchers that parents in poor-performing districts such as his own could use to send their kids to private and charter schools.
In 2018, he told an organization founded by self-proclaimed "democratic socialist" Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., supporters that he opposed vouchers for Philadelphia families because they "[take] money away from public schools" and give it to private and charter schools.
Teachers' unions have praised Fetterman's anti-voucher stance, which is in line with the Democratic Party's national platform. However, 58% of Americans — and 69% of black voters — say they support vouchers, which have been linked to higher graduation rates, the Free Beacon reported.
Also, under Pennsylvania's funding formula that awards money to districts based on enrollment, Fetterman is costing the district money by sending his kids — ages 7 to 12 — to private school.
And although Fetterman claims to embrace racial diversity, his children attend a school that is only 36% minority. Woodland Hills, meanwhile, is comprised of 62% black and 25% white.
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