Expert Witness on Education - Senator Moynihan

A senate hearing room is not a courtroom, and U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was not an attorney. I have found, however, that testifying before state and federal committees is very similar to testifying in court, and comments by Senator Moynihan, not an easy man to impress, are worth mentioning.

The same fuss over direct or indirect public subvention of private schools that led to the Klinger case was responsible for the Moynihan subcommittee. For years the Catholic Church had been trying so aggressively to secure tax support for its often-excellent schools that some elements of society were reacting furiously, raising the prospect of destructive religious conflict.

In studies and think papers for President Nixon’s Commission on School Finance, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, several church federations, legislative commissions in several states, the Education Commission of the States, the Council for State Governments, and other groups, I tried, like other scholars and many politicians, to concoct ways of resolving the issue amicably. I thought the best way was to encourage what I have called “de-schooling, “ but the debate kept returning to the same tired concepts, and often to insults as well.

Senator Moynihan was especially active in seeking a resolution. Among other things, he set up a 1978 congressional subcommittee, in collaboration with Senator Bob Packwood, on tax credits, and called for help from well informed witnesses, hoping to raise the level of analysis above stone-throwing.

Moynihan liked my comments about the strong sense of community (Gemeinschaft) typically distinguishing private schools from public schools. As a sometime Harvard professor of much renown, Moynihan knew what I was talking about, and engaged me in interesting dialog in the crowded hearing room. Shortly thereafter, I received his letter with the following comments:

“Your testimony was splendid—lucid, informative and greatly helpful to the Committee and I should like to extend my warm personal thanks” (see Photocopies).

At approximately the same time, Moynihan urged the National Institute of Education (NIE) to provide the grant I needed to study education vouchers in B. C. (British Columbia). Since NIE was strongly biased toward public education while pretending to produce unbiased research, and heavily dependent on the political influence of teacher unions, I believe I would not have received the grant without Moynihan’s intervention.

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