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WASHINGTON, DC - Senators Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, have appealed to the Department of Education to reverse a decision to rescind scholarship offers to nearly 200 students from low-income families in the District of Columbia. In a letter, Senators Lieberman and Collins urged Secretary Arne Duncan not to implement any rules or policies that would disrupt the program or prevent new students from entering the program pending congressional review of the future of the Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs intends to hold hearings on the OSP program and to consider legislation to reauthorize it.
Nearly 200 Washington, DC families had anticipated receiving up to $7,500 to help enable their children to attend private schools in the District under the OSP and about 600 additional applications are pending. The OSP, which was authorized by Congress, offers scholarships to disadvantaged children attending failing public schools in the District. Currently about 1,700 disadvantaged students receive scholarships under the OSP program. Secretary Duncan made the decision to disallow new students into the program, even in cases where students had been told they would be receiving the aid.
"I strongly support efforts to improve and strengthen public education in the District of Columbia and across the Nation. However, I believe that voucher programs such as the OSP offer an important choice to parents seeking the best education for their children. It is a choice that is always available to the affluent, but not to poor families absent programs such as the OSP. For the sake of the parents and students who are benefitting from this program, I strongly urge Secretary Duncan to reverse his decision so that new scholarships are available for the next year," Lieberman said.
"Although school vouchers may not be appropriate in many other parts of the country, they are providing much-needed opportunities for children of low-income families in Washington, DC, who otherwise would be trapped in failing schools," said Senator Collins. "The Department of Education should not have decided to end to this program before Congress has a chance to analyze its effects and publicly debate the merits of continuing it."
Following is the full text of the Senators' letter:
Arne Duncan, Secretary
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20202
Dear Secretary Duncan,
We are following up on our letter dated March 17, 2009, asking that you refrain from making any administrative rules or policies that would disrupt the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) or prevent the grantee from accepting applications and students for the 2009-2010 school year. Prior to a response to our inquiry, we were disappointed to learn that you subsequently made the choice not to allow new students to enroll in the program.
By preventing new scholarships from being awarded, you are effectively ending a program before Congress has had the opportunity to consider reauthorizing it. Therefore, we respectfully request that you consider reversing your decision.
As we noted in our letter to you, the future of the OSP is presently under consideration by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. We will be holding hearings on the program in May, and Majority Leader Reid has promised floor time to consider a reauthorization proposal. We respectfully request that you refrain from implementing significant changes to the program until we have an opportunity to review the program's results, hold public hearings, and have a thoughtful debate about the future of the program.
Your recent decision to suspend the program for new entrants will hurt families who are searching for other options for their children. We understand that many of these parents had been notified that they would, in fact, receive scholarships for their children. Now that the DC Public School's out of boundary process has been completed and the majority of public charter school deadlines have passed for the 2009-2010 school year, the suspension decision will leave these families with little or no opportunity to explore viable alternatives.
We will continue to support the D.C. Public School System in its efforts to improve outcomes for all students. However, in the interim, we must continue to provide options such as the OSP and provide families real choices in ensuring access to a quality education for their children.
We thank you for your immediate attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Joseph I. Lieberman
Susan M. Collins
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