| 3/16/2010 4:22:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Senate rejects bill to reauthorize D.C. Opportunity Scholarships
MARK ZIMMERMANN
Editor
On the evening of March 16, the U.S. Senate rejected a bill that would have reauthorized the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Independent-Conn.) put forward the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act of 2009, the SOAR Act, as an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill.
The vote was 55 against the reauthorization; 44 voted in favor of the measure. The vote was largely partisan with nearly all of the Senate's Democaratic members voting against the reauthorization, and nearly all of the Republican members voting for it.
The SOAR Act would have provided a five-year reauthorization of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which provides scholarships to low-income students in the city, particularly those attending failing schools, to allow them to attend a private school in the District. Since it began five years ago, the scholarship program has helped thousands of District families achieve the dream of a better education for their children.
Before the vote, Patricia Weitzel-O'Neill, the superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Washington, said "this could be the last chance we have to really turn the tide and save these kids from being shut out from any kind of financial support in the near future."
Earlier, the superintendent urged members of the community to contact their senators, and also to have their family members and friends across the country contact their senators, and ask them to support the SOAR Act, which would authorize $20 million for D.C. public schools, $20 million for D.C. public charter schools, and $20 million for District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarships.
In a March 9 Senate speech, Sen. Lieberman said the scholarship program "has been a lifeline for kids trying to get a decent education and build a better life."
Weitzel-O'Neill noted, "The children of D.C. are at the mercy of the Congress of the United States."
About 700 students now use the scholarships to attend Catholic schools in the city. The uncertainty over the future of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program was a key factor in the recently announced decision to close Holy Redeemer School in Washington after the current school year.
In an earlier statement, Archbishop Donald Wuerl noted, "This legislation has put the District's most at-risk children first... It is our hope that Congress quickly passes SOAR. It is difficult to envision what advantage anyone could find that would outweigh the futures and hopes of the young people in this city."
The superintendent noted another challenge facing families in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program: "The Department of Education has not selected an agency to administer the funds that were appropriated by the Congress of the United States for this program to continue."
The Washington Scholarship Fund, which has administered the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship funds for the past five years, is shutting its doors in June, and that organization is only permitted to administer funds for the 2009-10 school year. "There is no third party right now to manage these funds for the 2010-11 school year," said Weitzel-O'Neill. The Washington Scholarship Fund is "not allowed to take registrations or talk to families" about Opportunity Scholarships for the upcoming school year, she added.
In a March 4 letter to Opportunity Scholarship families, Weitzel-O'Neill noted "there is funding for next year (2010-2011) from Congress for OSP scholarships for current students... As before, the scholarships will cover tuition and fees up to $7,500." The superintendent noted that the U.S. Department of Education is looking for a new organization to run the program next year. She recommended that OSP families register for the fall at their school now. She added that Catholic school staffs will help families with the renewal process, working with the eventual new administrator of the program.
In the letter, the superintendent recommended that if families have any questions about their child's Opportunity Scholarship, they should call their principal, or the Catholic Schools Office at 301-853-4518, ext. 232.
"The most important thing to consider today is your child's education next year. We all want the best education for your child, and you will be able to continue with it because the OSP scholarships will be funded by the Federal Government next year," the superintendent wrote in her letter.
Weitzel-O'Neill said that despite promises made by Obama administration officials and congressional leaders that funding for the program would continue for current students until they graduate from high school, without reauthorization, it is estimated that funding will run out in 2013, when as many as 460 students out of the current 1,300 students would still be in the program.
"Unless the Lieberman bill passes, the program will die soon," the superintendent said. "The actions not to sustain the program taken by Congress are to kill the program in the next two and one-half to three years."
A March 16 action alert from the American Federation for Children, urging people to contact their members of Congress in support of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, quoted Patrick Wolf, an educational expert who evaluated the effectiveness of the program for the federal government: "The D.C. voucher program has proven to be the most effective education policy evaluated by the federal government's official education research arm so far."
The American Federation for Children noted, "The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program is clearly an example of 'funding what works' in education... It is unacceptable and outrageous that low-income children in Washington, D.C., are being denied an educational option that clearly works for them."
Studies have shown Opportunity Scholarship students have made significant gains in reading, and parents have shown high levels of satisfaction with the program. Polls have shown that 75 percent of D.C. residents support the program, as does Mayor Adrian Fenty, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, and a majority of the D.C. City Council.
Before the Senate vote, Ron Jackson, the executive director of the D.C. Catholic Conference , said, "It is our prayer that the Lieberman bill passes and gives us an opportunity to restore this program that has a real value to poor children and their families in the District of Columbia. It is proven and has made a big difference" in children's lives, he said. "
It's unfortunate it's been caught up in Capitol Hill politics. We applaud the efforts of Sen. Lieberman and Sen. (Susan) Collins (R-Maine) for their leadership to keep this issue alive, and (their efforts) in trying to keep this program going," he said.
Jackson called the future of D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program an issue of "fundamental fairness" for families in some of the poorest neighborhoods in the city who are seeking a good education and a brighter future for their children.
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