U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today issued the following statement regarding House passage of the D.C. school choice legislation. "Today, we are proud witnesses to an education milestone for the children of the District of Columbia—and for our entire nation. The passage of the school choice legislation is an unprecedented opportunity to level the playing field for low-income students in the nation's capital.

"Giving low-income parents a choice of where to send their children to school is really a matter of social justice. A child's educational circumstances should not be limited by a parent's income, skin color, dialect or zip code. It's just not fair to use the power of government to chain a child to a school that is not serving him or her well. Disadvantaged parents should have the same right to make choices for their children as other parents have. Why deny a disadvantaged parent the single best way for their children to advance themselves—a great education?

"We know from research that public schools respond positively when forced to compete for students. For example, Florida's low-performing schools are improving in direct proportion to the challenge they face from opportunity scholarship competition. These improvements are real, not the result of test gaming, demographic shifts or the statistical phenomenon of regression to the mean.

"This initiative shows we are committed to providing quality education to all children. This five-year demonstration program will give up to 1,700 students the opportunity to attend a better school and have a true chance at education success—just as the children of more affluent families have now.

"I want to thank members of Congress and especially Chairman Boehner, Rep. Tom Davis and Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen for their tireless support of the school children of our nation's capital. I also thank Mayor Williams, Councilman Kevin Chavous and School Board President Peggy Cooper Cafritz, who understand the importance of this program and worked so hard to see this day come to fruition. I look forward to working with them to implement this program once the Senate passes it and am confident that this legislation is in the best interests of D.C.'s students.

###

Top

Back to December 2003