D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program in Critical Condition
Lindsey Burke /
Today’s Washington Post editorial page draws attention to the plight of the embattled D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which is now in critical condition due to language contained in the omnibus bill. The 2010 spending bill effectively kills the successful program by prohibiting any new students from receiving scholarships. The Post writes that contrary to being a compromise as some lawmakers claim, the OSP language tucked away in the omnibus bill is in fact a death sentence:
IT IS DISTRESSINGLY clear that congressional leaders never really meant it when they said there would be a fair hearing to determine the future of the District’s federally funded school voucher program. How else to explain language tucked away in the mammoth omnibus spending bill that would effectively kill the Washington Opportunity Scholarship Program?
Contrary to claims of this being a compromise, the measure is really slow death for a program that provides $7,500 annually to low-income students to attend private schools. The number of students participating in the program has already shrunk from more than 1,700 to 1,319, and the nonprofit that administers the scholarships has said that it may have to pull out because the conditions would be untenable. It’s also possible that some schools that now enroll voucher students could be forced to shut down.