During his speech today at the NAACP’s annual convention, John McCain reiterated his support of taxpayer funded vouchers to send children to religious and other private schools. People For the American Way President Kathryn Kolbert issued the following response.

“John McCain is trying to score points with his right wing base, and he’s doing it at the expense of children. It’s bad enough that these voucher schemes are designed to undermine the separation of church and state. But more importantly, they don’t help children learn. Study after study, including the two government sanctioned studies of the DC voucher program, shows that vouchers are not an effective tool for improving student achievement. Senator McCain claims he only wants to support programs with a record of accountability, but then brags about his support of the DC voucher program which isn’t improving academic achievement. It’s completely inconsistent.

“Voters have repeatedly rejected voucher plans, so this line of attack obviously won’t work with most voters — it’s an ideological valentine aimed straight at the Religious Right base.”