House Minority Leader John Boehner (R–OH) made quite a statement on Monday when, on his first day back in office post-elections, he took time out to meet with parents and children enrolled in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP). In doing so, Boehner sent a clear signal to D.C. families of his support for school choice in the nation’s capital. A statement released on Boehner’s blog noted: Boehner, a former chairman of the House Education & the Workforce Committee, reaffirmed his commitment to renewing the DC OSP despite concerted efforts …
Congress is expected to soon approve legislation that threatens to end the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program—the federal school voucher program that has helped thousands of disadvantaged children attend a safe and effective school of their parents’ choice. The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program has proven to be highly popular and effective. A federal evaluation published by the Department of Education reported that students receiving scholarships made statistically significant improvement in reading achievement compared to their peers who remained in public school. A broad, bipartisan coalition—including a majority if the D.C. city …
Imagine if 20 years ago on the south side of Chicago two thousand low-income, predominantly African-American families were given an opportunity to take their children out of failing and violent schools and send them to a school where they had a chance to graduate and attend college. What if this program had numerous studies that showed the students within the program were making statistically significant gains in reading? What if the program was so wildly popular that for every one scholarship that was awarded, there were four applicants? And then, …
Opponents of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program have been losing the war of public opinion since last February when President Barack Obama and the Democrats on Capitol Hill voted to phase out the program. Even liberal political pundits like MSNBC’s Chris Mathews have expressed their outrage over the decision to deny thousands of families in Washington the opportunity to choose a safe and effective school for their children. Opponents of the scholarships have used every reason they can muster to defend their position. They argued that the program doesn’t work, …
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOthXdxJbxc[/youtube] Yesterday, Governor Jeb Bush praised President Obama for ‘being on the right track’ regarding education reform. We think there’s room for improvement when it comes to President Obama’s education stance, although he has promised to ‘use what works’ when considering reforms. However, if the President was true to his word he would have intervened when Congress voted to phase out the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program in April, which ultimately resulted in 216 low-income D.C. families being told the federal government was rescinding the scholarships that they had already been awarded earlier in the year: …
Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), the same Sen. Durbin who put the language in last February’s Omnibus spending bill to eliminate the D.C.Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP), now says he might be open to reauthorizing the program. The Wall Street Journal Reports: I have to work with my colleagues if this is going to be reauthorized, which it might be,” said Mr. Durbin at an appropriations hearing Tuesday morning. He also said that he had visited one of the participating private schools and understood
D.C. School Choice Supporters Protest Education Secretary Duncan This morning, Education Secretary Arne Duncan held a joint press conference at a school in Washington, DC marking the start of the new school year. Sec. Duncan was there to speak about the challenges schools face related to the flu and H1N1 virus. But the Secretary was reminded about the administration’s decision to take away school choice scholarships from 216 children living in DC by a group of protestors led by school choice activist Virginia Walden Ford. As children in D.C. head …
In a cover story today, the Washington Examiner highlights the continuing exodus from traditional public schools in the D.C. school system: By Monday’s first school bell, charters project at least 28,000 students, or about 2,400 more than last year, while D.C. Public Schools expect about 45,000, or 2,000 fewer than in spring.dc This year’s decline follows a trend that has continued for decades. According to the Examiner, nearly 30,000 students have left the city’s public school system. Much of the exodus has been into the charter school system, which has …
Support for school choice in Washington, D.C. continues to grow. The latest national voice to call for saving the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program is MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. Check out this Hardball interview with RNC Chairman Michael Steele: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFUyqr6QsFY[/youtube] Mr. Matthews says: “These opportunity scholarships should be maintained.” Later in the interview, Mr. Matthews makes an interesting point about how the opportunity to attend a private school made a big difference in the life of Judge Sotomayor: “Cardinal Spellman high school is one of the reasons why this woman, Sotomayor got …
Today in Washington, DC there was a rally for School Choice organized by DC Children F1rst. From Marion Berry to concerned parents to popular R&B recording artists, the message to lawmakers was clear – Put Kids First! What is also clear, is that by effectively killing the Opportunity Scholarship Program will put kids last. The rally overall was very postive because the kids and parents were happy with their education. Why take that away from them? Heritage expert Dan Lips has more about this event on The Corner.
