A First Step in Congress for School Choice in D.C

Lindsey Burke / March 10, 2011

Earlier today, the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act, a bill sponsored by Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to reauthorize the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, passed out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and is now on its way to consideration in the House. The bill passed by a margin of 21 to 14. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the OGR committee, issued the following statement:

Today’s vote continues the bipartisan momentum to restore educational choice and opportunity for schoolchildren in the District of Columbia. Independent studies and reports from parents and students have validated the educational benefits the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program has provided to low-income D.C. students. Without the robust and steadfast opposition of teachers’ union special interest groups, I believe there would have been consensus of support for this commonsense proposal.

Issa’s Oversight and Government Reform Committee has also produced a powerful video about the D.C. OSP.

Brian Bolduc over at NRO describes the opposition to the D.C. voucher program: (more…)