More Resources Secretary's Remarks Memorandum of Understanding  PDF (109K) | MS Word (49K)

The U.S. Department of Education, in conjunction with the D.C. mayor's office, has selected the Washington Scholarship Fund (WSF) to administer the D.C. Choice Incentive Program, Education Secretary Rod Paige announced today. The $14 million, five-year demonstration initiative is the first federally funded program in the nation to provide "equal opportunity scholarships" to low-income students in the district to attend parochial or private schools.

The WSF was founded in 1993 by a group of local business leaders who were concerned about expanding school choice for low-income families in the district. Since then, WSF has provided $10 million in scholarships to more than 2,700 students. During the current school year, the WSF is distributing about $1.7 million in scholarships to 1,023 students from 673 families. Currently, they are funded entirely through private donations.

"I'm glad to see that this effort to expand school choice is moving ahead full-speed," Paige said, who announced the competition for selecting the administrator last month. "The WSF has a proven track record for this type of work, and I'm happy to see them take on this project. We're in the business of improving education by providing parents with choices—regardless of their income level—and so are they. This project will add another 2,000 children to their growing list of low income students in the district who are looking to achieve their dreams through the best education available."

The prospective scholarship recipients will receive grants of up to $7,500 to be used for tuition, fees and transportation. The program is scheduled to begin this fall.

"This is a huge step in the right direction," said Mayor Anthony A. Williams. "I look forward to the WSF taking on the task of operating this program and moving quickly to ensure a successful effort in the fall. I am confident that WSF will continue its good work of providing increased educational options for parents."

At the department, the Office of Innovation and Improvement will have the lead responsibility for implementing the program and for carrying out cooperative activities with the D.C. government.

In addition, the department's Institute of Education Sciences will have the lead responsibility for implementing the evaluation of the effectiveness of the program, including cooperative activities with the D.C. government that are related to that evaluation. A detailed request for proposals was announced on March 16. To access the request for proposals, visit http://www.eps.gov/spg/ED/
OCFO/CPO/ED%2D04%2DR%2D0008/listing.html.

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