`CHOICE' MEAASURE APPLAUDED

Even if a proposal to provide scholarships for children to attend the schools of their parents' choice is just election-year politics, local private-school officials applauded President George Bush's "GI Bill for Students."

Bush proposed a pilot project last week that would provide children of low- and middle-income families with $1,000 scholarships to attend the school of their parents' choice.

Bush declared that the measure would stir school competition and trigger "a revolution" to upgrade the nation's troubled education system.

Sen. John Danforth, R-Mo., is serving as chief sponsor in the Senate of the school-choice proposal, which offers grants to students for public or private schooling, including religious ones.

The proposal would establish a $500 million program to fund the $1,000 grants.

Bush's election-year initiative, "Federal Grants for State and Lo

cal GI Bills for Children," drew swift and pointed criticism.

Albert Shanker, president of the 790,000-member American Federation of Teachers, called the measure "nothing more than a cheap and desperate campaign tactic."

"Congress soundly rejected the last Bush (school-choice) voucher scheme this past January, said Shanker. "This latest effort won't go anywhere."

Sister Mary Ann Fischer, principal at Notre Dame High School, said: "I'm sure some of it is campaign rhetoric, but this same thing is already happening in some cities. And it's working.

"The GI Bill after the war allowed many people to choose the education they wanted. They could attend public or private colleges. I guess I wonder why this should pose a problem.

"Parents have the primary responsibility to educate their children," Fischer said.

"We already are giving them a choice concerning the type of education available. The scholarship money gives them a chance to exercise that right," she said.

Fischer said competition for scholarship money should improve education.

"I think choice will strengthen both the public and private school systems," she said. "We live in a competitive society, and I believe competition can improve an institution.

"We've always had to compete for students," Fischer said. "That's nothing new in the Catholic school system. We've always had to improve our programs to attract students, and we spend a lot of time doing that.

"The other thing to remember is that with this GI bill for kids, the money is going to the parents to spend as they see fit. It's not going to the religiously-affiliated school," she said.

Fischer, a student of American history, said the First Amendment was written to prohibit the federal government from establishing a national church. "Nowhere do we talk about separation of church and state. Thomas Jefferson used that term, but he was also opposed to the federal government borrowing money. You know how far we followed that."

Trinity Lutheran School Principal Robert Hartmann said, "I'm not acquainted with the working of the specific proposal, but we are always for choice."

Hartmann said the $1,000 scholarships would "definitely give people more of an opportunity."

"The way it is now, people have choice, but it is somewhat restricted to those who have the finances to make the choice," he said.

Like Fischer, Hartmann said private schools are used to competition.

"We have to be able to sell a product. That's why we're always trying to stay abreast of new developments and improve. I think competition is always good. Our whole system, to a certain extent, thrives on competition. It keeps us all on our toes."

Hartmann said locally the public, private and parochial schools have good cooperation.

"People in this area have the opportunity to make the choice," Hartmann said. "But if more people feel financially able to make the choice, that's better for the community."