Heritage Foundation
Obama Budget Ends Funding for D.C. School Choice Program
By Lindsey Burke
April 12, 2013 

Yesterday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan testified before the House Appropriations Committee about Obama’s fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget request for the Department of Education. Congressman Andy Harris (R–MD) took the opportunity to question Duncan about a glaring omission from the budget: funding for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP). 

The DCOSP provides vouchers to low-income children in the nation’s capital to attend a private school of choice. According to the Department of Education’s scientifically rigorous evaluation of the program, the DCOSP has been a wild success: Students who received a voucher and used it to attend a private school had a 91 percent graduation rate—21 percentage points higher than their peers who did not receive a voucher. The evaluation, without a doubt, showed that scholarships led to the dramatic gains in school completion. 

Congressman Harris questioned Secretary Duncan on why the Obama Administration is pushing to create a massive new federal preschool program when there is little evidence that such an initiative would work, while at the same time pushing once again to eliminate funding for the objectively successful DCOSP. 

Harris: You talked about the Perry [Preschool Project] study with 60 people. You talked about the other study with less than 100 people justifying a billion dollar expenditure. We’re talking about, relatively, not that large an expenditure that your own document says “significantly improved students’ chances of graduating high school.” Now I’m going to assume that we think that’s a good outcome... 

Read the rest of the article and see the video at Heritage Foundation