Whether in Washington, DC or Detroit, it is blindingly obvious that the Democratic Party is far more interested in kowtowing to the teachers unions than it is in effectively educating children.

As we noted Sunday, the US Senate has all but killed the highly successful voucher program for poor kids in Washington, DC.

The Washington Post editorializes: (emphasis added)

It is distressingly clear that congressional leaders never really meant it when they said there would be a fair hearing to determine the future of the District's federally funded school voucher program. ... If Congress, no doubt egged on by its allies in the teachers unions, is so intent on killing this program, it should be upfront in accepting the responsibility.

And then there's the news about recent test scores from Detroit, which has perhaps the worst public schools in the country:

The Detroit News' Santiago Esparza reports: (emphasis added)

[Recent] test scores ... showed fourth- and eighth-graders [from Detroit public schools] had the worst math scores in the nation.

City students took the National Assessment of Educational Progress test this year, and 69 percent of fourth-graders scored below the basic level in math and 77 percent of eighth-graders scored below basic.

The Detroit scores on the progress test were the lowest in its 40-year history.
...

Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb told the crowd the test scores weren't the result of children who were incompetent or parents who didn't care. He blamed the scores on the district not doing its job.

"This is an abysmal failure," Bobb said. "It is not the fault of our kids individually, and it is not the fault of our kids collectively. It is not the kids' fault. It is the adults' fault. It is a failure of leadership."

The scores were so low that DPS parent Tonya Allen said she thinks students could have stayed home and done just as badly on the tests.

"No other city in the history of this test has done this bad," said Allen, a founding member of the 7-year-old network. "They could have took this test in French and done just as bad."

It's almost as if the Democrats want to keep these kids in failing schools...