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 …
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cqWuVb7FNc[/youtube] “Be bold,” says James Tooley when you want education reform. He’d know. For the last decade the Newcastle University Professor has been traveling throughout the world’s poorest regions studying systems of education. What he’s discovered may be surprising. In the poorest countries on earth, parents are choosing private schools because they don’t want to acquiesce to the mediocrity of public schools…Our research has shown that these schools are outperforming the government schools at a fraction of the cost.
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 …
The thought keeps coming to mind: First lady Michelle Obama is a natural to champion the 1,700 D.C. schoolchildren from low-income families whose tickets out of failing public schools – scholarships to attend a school of their choice — are on the hit list of congressional Democrats. One reason is Mrs. Obama’s gift for inspiring young folks, as when she recently welcomed dozens of local kids to the White House. The scene: the East Room. The date: Feb. 18. The occasion: a visit by 180 D.C. students. The first lady spoke after the …
