Obama Administration Once Again Neglects DC Voucher Program
CER Press Release
Washington, DC
March 4, 2014
Showing little regard for low-income families who rely on school choice for a chance at success, the Obama administration has yet again allowed for a severe funding imbalance in its budget for the widely popular and successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). Since 2004, approximately 6,000 low-income students have benefitted from obtaining scholarships to pursue a better education, and escape a failing school.
“The refusal to allocate more than the bare minimum for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program directly violates the sentiment of the 2011 SOAR Act, which was designed to secure future funding for these vital pathways to more and better opportunities,” said Kara Kerwin, president of The Center for Education Reform. “The Obama administration’s continued refusal to embrace the OSP in budgetary requests is unacceptable.”
The evidence that the D.C. OSP works is irrefutable. Scholarship recipients graduated high school at an average rate of 93 percent between 2010 and 2012, and enrolled in college at a 90 percent rate.
“It’s critical that members of Congress acknowledge the longstanding benefits of the OSP, and remedy this funding shortfall,” Kerwin added.