McKee Focus of Wall Street Journal and Washington Post Editorials on Two Different Issues - It Is Not Good

McKee Focus of Wall Street Journal and Washington Post Editorials on Two Different Issues - It Is Not Good

Governor Dan McKee may be the first governor in Rhode Island history to appear in two national editorials in the same week for two different issues.

Washington Post Editorial Board’s piece is titled "Will a governor who won on educational freedom betray charter schools?”

The Post wrote, “Charter schools are wildly popular among parents and kids in Rhode Island, but teachers' unions are doing their best to crush them. Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee (D) now faces a legacy-defining choice on whether to veto a bill that would stymie school choice in his state.

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Demand for charters outstrips supply in Rhode Island by almost 10 to 1: This school year, families submitted over 30,000 applications for 3,170 seats. Yet the bill on McKee’s desk imposes a three-year moratorium on new charters and reduces the cap on how many are allowed in the state.

McKee previously championed education reform, but now he’s trailing a challenger in the polls ahead of a Sept. 9 primary. He appears to be looking for support from the state’s teachers union, which sees charters as competition for resources. The group has made blocking new ones a priority.”

“Rhode Island already ranks among the highest-spending states on a per-pupil basis, even though its fourth- and eighth-graders perform around the national average in reading and math,” added the Post.

“A veto should be an easy call. As mayor of Cumberland, McKee helped create some of the state’s most successful public charter schools. In 2021, as governor, he threatened to veto a similar moratorium, blasting legislators for placing “stricter limits” on educational choices for underprivileged students.

McKee was right five years ago. Nothing has changed, other than this being an election season,” the Post added.

Now, let's head over to the Wall Street Journal, whose tone was quite harsh.

The WSJ editorial board wrote, “Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee’s five-year record has made him vulnerable to a primary challenge as he seeks re-election this year. Now he’s further punishing his state by signing a millionaire’s tax to win the support of government unions. Let’s hope he doesn’t also sell out children by approving a bill to block new charter schools.

“Mr. McKee may also be hoping that soaking high earners will save him. Last year he opposed a millionaire’s tax proposed by his Democratic Legislature, but he flipped after drawing a primary challenge from former CVS Health Corp. executive Helena Foulkes. She’s running against him from the center on a campaign of attracting and retaining employers. The millionaire’s tax will drive more away,” added WSJ.

The paper failed to mention that Foulkes also supported a similar proposal to tax the rich.