This week, The Heritage Foundation launched an ad campaign to highlight congressional hypocrisy. The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program provides scholarships for more than 1,700 District children to attend schools of their choice. But the Obama Administration and Democrats in Congress are phasing it out. Students currently on scholarship will be allowed to continue through graduation, but no new students may enter the program. This despite an increase in annual federal education spending to $77 billion.
Since 2004, students in the District of Columbia have had access to the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (D.C. OSP), the nation’s only federally funded school voucher program. Income-eligible children those from families earning 185 percent or less of the federal poverty level (FPL) can apply to receive a scholarship worth up to $13,287 to pay tuition at a private school of choice. The D.C. OSP has produced important outcomes for participants: significantly higher graduation rates, safer students, and more satisfied parents.
This WebMemo is a summary of a CDA Report by The Heritage Foundation and Lexington Institute that presents an analysis of 911 calls originating from schools in D.C. for the 2007-2008 schoolyear, the most recent full school year for which data wereavailable.