D.C. Advocates Fight to Stop Federally Funded School Vouchers

Education advocates in our nation's capitol celebrated a temporary victory as the U.S. Senate delayed a vote on a controversial program of federally funded school vouchers in the District of Columbia. Claiming they still had sufficient votes to pass the bill, supporters, mainly Republicans and the District's Democratic Mayor, stress that they will return to the voucher proposal after other votes and a scheduled break.

For the Coalition for Accountable Public Schools and other advocacy organizations fighting to defeat the D.C. voucher plan, the Senate delay suggests that voucher support is wavering after a week of heated debate and a threatened filibuster. The opposition is led by the Coalition, a grassroots alliance of parents, residents, and civic, civil rights, education, labor, religious, and other advocacy organizations, such as People for the American Way, Stop D.C. Vouchers, Parents United for D.C. Public Schools, 21st Century School Fund, and D.C. VOICE. These groups have lobbied and contacted members of the House and Senate, urging them to defeat the plan which is opposed by a majority of D.C. residents.

Coalition members argue that federally-funded vouchers would support schools that are not held to the same levels of accountability as public schools, currently forced to adhere to the No Child Left Behind Act. Additionally, members insist that federal funds earmarked for vouchers should instead be used to support and improve schools in the troubled Washington, D.C. public school system.

The $13 million dollar plan, currently stalled in the U.S. Senate, offers $7,500 a year for less than 3% of the District's students to attend private schools. The House of Representatives narrowly approved a similar bill in early September, allocating $10 million dollars for vouchers. Advocates have argued that President Bush and a Republican-dominated Congress are using the District to showcase their support for vouchers on a national scale.

The controversy over federally funded school vouchers highlights D.C.'s lack of representation in Congress, as recently criticized in a New York Times editorial.

Prepared October 1, 2003