House Committee on Education and Labor
U.S. House of Representatives

Blog

Save D.C. Scholarships!

"There is no such thing as a permanent program. Every program needs to be authorized or re-authorized."  So said a top aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) when asked by the Examiner why Congressional Democrats inserted language into the omnibus appropriations bill that would phase out the popular D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program.

For the unfamiliar, a bit of background: The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program provides scholarships of up to $7,500 annually to low-income children in the nation’s capital.  Since 2004, the program has proven a lifeline for struggling parents who want to enroll their children in safer, higher-achieving schools; parents who have no other way to escape the D.C. public school system, which is among the lowest-performing in the country.

Of course, anyone familiar with Washington knows that there IS such a thing as a permanent program. Most federal programs are permanent, even if they are no longer useful. And federal programs tend to live on and on, even if they have not technically been reauthorized, despite the Speaker's aide's comments to the contrary. In fact, there are currently more than 100 programs under the jurisdiction of the House Education and Labor Committee that have not been reauthorized or reformed, some as far back at 1993.  Using the Democrats' logic, Congress would stop funding the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities (last passed by Congress in 1993), Americorps and other national service programs (last reauthorized in 1996), child care and development block grants (last examined in 2002), or those education programs that serve disadvantaged students in public schools under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (last reauthorized in 2001).

But in a way, this debate misses the point. The real issue shouldn't be technicalities of federal funding. What's at stake is the future of low-income children in the nation's capital. Low-income children who were trapped in dilapidated, dangerous, and dysfunctional schools. Certainly, the D.C. public school system has an ambitious leader who is committed to change. But in the mean time, do we really want to tear educational opportunity away from these children?

Posted by Education Policy Staff (02-24-2009, 07:45 PM) filed under School Choice

---

  Comments No Comments.

---

  Submit a Comment

Name:
  
  E-Mail: