Washington voucher program in danger of losing funding

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Catholic Schools - Catholic School News

Thursday, 05 March 2009 15:21

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program — a federally funded voucher program in the District of Columbia — faces an uncertain future.

The uncertainty stems from recent language inserted in a provision in a 2009 spending bill that would require the scholarship program to be reauthorized by Congress and approved by the district government for it to receive any funding beyond the next school year.

House Republicans and school choice advocates are warning that congressional Democrats — many of whom are vocal opponents of vouchers — will most likely not give the scholarship program the votes it needs.

“There is a lack of clarity” about the program’s continuation, Ronald Jackson, executive director of the District of Columbia Catholic Conference, told the Catholic Standard, Washington’s diocesan newspaper.

The scholarship program, launched as a pilot program five years ago, allocates $14 million annually in individual scholarships of up to $7,500 to more than 1,700 children from low-income families to attend private schools. About half of the scholarship recipients attend Catholic schools.

An editorial in the Catholic Standard Feb. 26 praised the scholarship program and urged Catholics to “let Congress know how much this program means to the young people of our community.”

A Feb. 25 editorial in The Washington Post criticized congressional Democrats for mandating the voucher program be reauthorized by Congress for it to be continued. “Many of the Democrats have never liked vouchers,” it said, “and it seems they won’t let fairness or the interests of low-income, minority children stand in the way of their politics.”

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement that eliminating the voucher program “would represent an irresponsible and shameful act on the part of the Democratic leadership in Congress.”

Boehner was chairman of what was then called the House Education and the Workforce Committee when the school scholarship program was initially established.

Brendan Daly, spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters during a Feb. 24 press conference that Democrats weren’t trying to eliminate the scholarship program, but simply wanted the program to be reauthorized.

The program was established as a three-pronged approach to help Washington schools — with equal funds distributed to the scholarship program, charter schools and public schools.

President Barack Obama stressed during his campaign that he did not support school vouchers but instead favored limited school choice that would gives students the option of attending charter schools. He also pledged in his Feb. 24 address to Congress to expand the government’s commitment to charter schools.