Tomorrow, the D.C. Black Alliance for Educational Options will rally on Capitol Hill in support of preserving school choice in the District through programs like the [D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program](https://www.washingtonscholarshipfund.org/programs/index.html). We support their cause.
For five years, the D.C. OSP has provided funding for students in the District whose families earn less than $40,000 per year to leave the area’s failing public schools and enroll in D.C. private schools.
Earlier this year, Congress voted against reauthorizing the program, with President Obama’s support; Democrats have typically opposed the school voucher program. With Obama’s encouragement, however, Congress will allow current recipients of program funding to continue to receive that money until graduation.
While allowing currently enrolled students to continue participating in the program is commendable, canceling a functional program that gives the least fortunate in the District an opportunity to excel in better schools is irresponsible.
Studies released by the Department of Education have shown that the 1,716 students participating in the D.C. OSP are, on average, two years ahead of their public school peers in reading comprehension skills. Parents have also reported that their sons and daughters show more interest in school and are improving their grades and performance. Additionally, according to [a Heritage Foundation poll conducted this summer](https://www.friedmanfoundation.org/downloadFile.do?id=375), 75 percent of District residents ranked local public schools as “fair” or “poor,” and 75 percent said they favored the voucher program.
Some have argued that the program only affects a small number of students and that the money could be better spent improving the public schools that this legislation allows some children to avoid. We understand this point, but argue that the increased competition the program gives to public schools provides an incentive for them to improve.
Cutting the D.C. OSP will also send the wrong message to families who have one older sibling enrolled in the program; a younger sibling will be barred from any opportunity to take advantage of the voucher, and will likely end up in the school deemed insufficient for the older sibling in the first place.
The reality is that the decision to cut the D.C. OSP originated in complaints from teacher’s unions that opposed the No Child Left Behind Act and highly effective charter schools. This is not a funding issue. According to The Washington Post, the District spends $26,555 per student in the public school system – three-and-a-half times the amount spent on a school voucher for each student. Yet [only 14 percent of fourth graders in D.C. public schools are proficient in math and reading](https://dcps.dc.gov/portal/site/DCPS/menuitem.3d9831ab117a6a932c69621014f62010/?vgnextoid=39d1e2b1f0d32210VgnVCM100000416f0201RCRD). And of D.C. eighth graders, only 12 percent are proficient in reading and only 8 percent are proficient in math.
The D.C. public school system is ailing – there’s no doubt about it – and it’s going to take a while to find the cure. In the meantime, we need to give students the opportunity not to fail along with their schools. That means keeping programs like the D.C. OSP on the table. This will provide improved education to current students who cannot afford it on their own, lessen the burden of overcrowding on public schools and provide competition to the District’s public schools, hopefully forcing them to improve. That may be the only way D.C. public schools will get the reality check they so desperately need.
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