HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner

Democrats Kill School Choice in the Nation’s Capital

Despite promises to “fund what works,” President Obama signed a bill earlier this year which effectively kills the DC Opportunity Scholarships Program, a popular school choice program started by Congress in 2004.  The President has said he will extend the program until all current participants graduate from high school, but will not accept any new applicants, The Washington Post reported last week.

More than 2,000 students have been able to attend one of the D.C. area non-public schools through the program since it was established, and more than 7,200 have applied for scholarships, demonstrating the overwhelming public demand in the District among parents for new educational options for their children.

However, Democrats stripped funding for the program in the massive $410 billion omnibus spending bill.  Despite passing a bill littered with 9,000 earmarks and which boosts government spending by nearly 10 percent over the previous year, the President and the Democrats in Congress apparently couldn’t find a mere $14 million to provide a better future to the children of the nation’s capital through the DC Opportunity Scholarships Program.

Why is the DC Opportunity Scholarships Program (OSP) worth preserving?  A Department of Education study released in March offers some reasons:

• Overall, those offered a scholarship were performing at statistically higher levels in reading equivalent to 3.1 months of additional learning.
• The program received high marks from parents and students alike.
• To qualify, students must come from a home that is at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty line.

And, according to DC Children First, students who participate in the program: “come from families with an average income of approximately $22,000 a year, and have standardized reading and math test scores below the 33rd percentile.”  Moreover: “Without the scholarship, 86 percent of the students participating in the program would otherwise have been assigned to attend a D.C. Public School in need of improvement, corrective action, or restructuring.”

More than 1,000 people attended a rally last week, pleading for the school choice program to be continued.  But despite calls from former Mayor Williams of Washington, D.C. and House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH), the President and his Congressional allies seem intent on killing school choice. 

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board wrote yesterday that: “The teachers’ unions hate vouchers, so bye-bye, D.C. voucher program.  What a sock in the eye to kids and parents motivated enough to seek a school where they can get a better education.”

The DC school choice program is offering hope to children who otherwise would have almost no opportunity to receive a quality education.  The President has made the right choice in allowing children currently in the program to stay in it, but it’s the bare minimum that really needs to be done for these families.  The Administration and Congress should allow the program to continue on a permanent basis to ensure children continue to benefit from it in the future.

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 11th, 2009 at 1:59 pm and is filed under General, School Choice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Democrats Kill School Choice in the Nation’s Capital”

1. Dr J B Says:
   May 11th, 2009 at 2:04 pm

   Makes sense…after all, you can’t indoctrinate new liberal voters if you give them a chance to get themselves out of poverty with a real education. So, no surprise here.

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