{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221003355/http://www.vitter.senate.gov/newsroom/press/vitter-senators-louisiana-voucher-program-about-students-not-quotas-", "Vitter, Senators: Louisiana Voucher Program About Students not Quotas", "2013-10-24", "2013", "2013-10", "Republican", "House", "LA", "David Vitter", "V000127", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Vitter, Senators: Louisiana Voucher Program About Students not Quotas \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tIn a letter, 30 U.S. Senators push for answers from Attorney General Holder on DOJ\u2019s voucher lawsuit\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tThursday, October 24, 2013\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t(Washington, D.C.) \u2013 U.S. Senator David Vitter (R-La.), along with 29 Senators, is calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to justify the U.S. Justice Department\u2019s lawsuit against Louisiana\u2019s statewide voucher program. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) is the lead author on the letter.\n\u201cThe Justice Department\u2019s lawsuit is an outrageous attack on Louisiana parents and students,\u201d Vitter said. \u201cInstead of allowing parents to make one of their most important choices \u2013 where to send their kids to school \u2013 the federal government is stepping in, and trapping students in failing schools to meet quotas. Education needs to be about giving all of our students the best possible opportunity, not about reaching federal quotas determined by some bureaucrat in Washington.\u201d  The Louisiana Scholarship Program grants low-income children the opportunity to escape failing public schools and attend a different school chosen by their parents. Last year, the program helped over 5,700 children and raised test scores -- all while saving taxpayers $18 million dollars. More than 90 percent of the students who have benefited from the program are minorities.\nThe Justice Department led by Attorney General Holder is suing Louisiana to return 570 of these children to failing schools, on the grounds that it is more important to preserve a school\u2019s racial make-up. For example, the Justice Department argues that six African-American children should be returned to a failing elementary school, to change the school from 29.2 percent to 30.1 percent African-American.\nThe text of the Senators\u2019 letter is included below.\n  October 24, 2013\nThe Honorable Eric Holder  Attorney General  Department of Justice  950 Pennsylvania Avenue. NW  Washington, DC 20530-0001\nDear Attorney General Holder:\nOn August 22, 2013, the Department of Justice filed a petition with the federal district court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in the case of United States v. William J. Dodd, Civ. A. No. 71-1316 (E.D. La.). The petition asks the court to block 570 needy children from escaping failing public schools, solely on the basis of the children\u2019s skin color. We are deeply concerned by the Justice Department\u2019s petition. Specifically, we are concerned that the Department of Justice\u2019s decision to prevent these needy children from obtaining a valuable education is not consistent with the pursuit of justice, but instead may be the result of improper, partisan motives.\nIn 2008, three years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city, New Orleans launched the Louisiana Scholarship Program. The program allowed poor students in failing schools to obtain a scholarship to attend a private school preapproved by the State. In 2012, Louisiana expanded the program statewide. 91 percent of scholarship children were minorities\u201486 percent African-American and 5 percent from other minority groups. Because the average scholarship equaled $4,500, some $3,000 less than the amount Louisiana\u2019s public schools spend per child, the program saved Louisiana taxpayers $18 million in 2012 alone.\nThe program has been a remarkable success. Test scores have risen among scholarship students. More importantly, the program is lauded by those in the best position to determine what is best for Louisiana\u2019s children: their parents. One mother wrote that at her son\u2019s public school, the teacher \u201ctold me that she could not give him the attention and time he needed\u201d; \u201cmy son could not hold a pencil or crayon and was treated by teachers and students alike as an outcast,\u201d and \u201cwas labeled as disabled.\u201d At his new scholarship school, \u201che has made tremendous progress and can now write his own name,\u201d is \u201cthriving,\u201d and is \u201cexcited to work on [his] homework at night.\u201d Another mother attested that she sought a scholarship for her six year-old son for one simple reason: \u201cSo he won\u2019t be a statistic.\u201d She explained that just a few months earlier, she laid her nephew to rest, and at the funeral could not help but ask, \u201cIf he would\u2019ve had the same opportunity like my son has, who knows what he would have become?\u201d\nIt seems to us that a program that rescues needy children from failing schools, gives families a chance to break the cycle of poverty and violence, and saves taxpayers millions of dollars each year is one that should be lauded by the federal government. Instead, the Justice Department is working to sabotage it. Shockingly, the Justice Department is doing so by targeting a small group of children based solely on the color of their skin.\nDuring the days of Jim Crow, some Louisiana school districts were placed under desegregation orders. The Justice Department argues that allowing a few students to escape their failing schools will change the racial composition in these covered school districts. For example, the Justice Department asks the court to block six needy African-American students from escaping their failing school, because their departure would change the school\u2019s racial make-up from 30.1 percent to 29.2 percent African-American. Similarly, the Justice Department argues that the desegregation orders may be violated if five poor white students obtain a better education, because the school would go from 29.6\u2009percent to 28.9\u2009percent white. In each case, the Justice Department is targeting the children solely on the basis of their skin color: If the six African-American children were white, and the five white children were African-American, the Justice Department would not be trying to prevent them from receiving a good education. These   children are not statistics. They are young kids, and every one of them deserves a safe, high-quality school and a chance at a bright future.\nLouisiana\u2019s Superintendent of Education has called it \u201cironic\u201d that the Justice Department is taking the desegregation orders that were designed to provide African-American children with access to the best schools and using them to trap African-American children in failing schools based solely on their skin color. We agree with the Washington Post\u2019s editorial board: \u201cwe think it is appalling.\u201d\nCongress is vested with oversight of the Justice Department in order to ensure political considerations do not trump the pursuit of justice and to verify that the Justice Department is making wise use of scarce taxpayer dollars. In our oversight capacity, we are requesting that you submit answers to the below questions as soon as possible, but no later than November 6, 2013. We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.  1. In 2012, 5,766 needy children won the opportunity to escape a failing school through Louisiana\u2019s Scholarship Program. The Justice Department\u2019s petition seeks to block 570 of those children from obtaining a meaningful education, based solely on the color of their skin. Some children, the petition argued, should be trapped in failing schools because they are African-American; others because they are white. How is this consistent with the Constitution\u2019s guarantee of equal protection regardless of race?  2. Justice Department officials have, on more than one occasion, appeared before Congress and testified that the Department\u2019s resources are stretched thin, and prosecutors sometimes have to make decisions on how best to deploy those resources. Why is this litigation a wise use of scarce taxpayer dollars?  3. The Justice Department argues in its petition that the loss of six black children from Cecilia primary school\u2014which amounts to less than one percent of the student body\u2014should be blocked. Imagine those six black children left Cecilia primary school for a reason other than the Louisiana Scholarship Program. Imagine that their parents\u2019 found more lucrative jobs and were able to afford private school out of their own pockets.   a. Would the Justice Department have the legal authority to block these children from leaving Cecilia school in order to preserve the \u201cracial balance\u201d between the school and parish?  b. Would the Justice Department have the legal authority to ask the court to bus in six other African-American children into the failing school to restore its \u201cracial balance\u201d?  4. The two examples the Justice Department cites in its petition, Cecilia primary school and Independence primary school, involve miniscule changes to the student population, 6 students (less than one percent of the student body) and 5 students (just over one percent of the student body). Is any change too small? What if only one black student received a scholarship from Cecilia? Would the Justice Department have the authority to block that student from a better school?  5. Did anyone in the Justice Department take any account of politics or have any conversations concerning politics, including the positions of teachers unions, in deciding to file its petition?\nSincerely,", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221003355/http://www.vitter.senate.gov/newsroom/press/vitter-senators-louisiana-voucher-program-about-students-not-quotas-"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9322171099483967, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}