Thursday of last week a reconstituted SOAR Act, the legislation that contains within it the Opportunity Scholarship Program, was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.  This is the second time in about six months that the bill that provides private school vouchers for children living in poverty has received an affirmative vote.

This is a prelude to getting the plan through the Senate and signed by the President.  This didn’t work out well towards the end of 2015 when it appeared that the retirement of Speaker Boenhner left school choice advocates flatfooted and unprepared with how to deal with strong Democratic Party opposition led by Congresswoman Pelosi.

Fortunately, there has been much work done since that go-around.  Solid support for a five year re-authorization has been expressed by the D.C. Mayor, the Chairman of the D.C. Council, eight of his fellow Council members, and in a really bizarre change-of-heart, D.C.’s non-voting Congressional Representative.  But none of this should be anywhere near this hard.

The OSP simply grants scholarships to poor families to enroll their kids in the same type of school that President Obama’s daughters attend.  There are many fine institutions that accept the vouchers such as Sidwell Friends, where Malia and Sasha go, the St. Peters School, Archbishop Carroll High School, and Gonzaga College High School.  A couple of years ago I interviewed the principal of St. Peters whose scholars at the time were completing a Student Families project through Catholic Charities.  The activity, which assembles breakfast meals for temporarily homeless individuals, is named after Joseph E. Robert, Jr., the man who when he was alive championed the OSP through the Three-Sector Approach that provides an equal amount of federal funding for DCPS, charters, and the private school vouchers.  At the time about 10 OSP students were at St. Peters.

The total cost of the plan is $45 million a year.

If providing a life-line to the most vulnerable among us is this hard, we really have to wonder what is being taught in our public schools.

There is shocking news this morning that the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation is closing its doors.  This is the same organization that former D.C. Councilman Harry Thomas, Jr. had utilized beginning in 2007 to steal over $350,000 in money targeted to helping low income youth.  He instead funneled the cash to himself for the purchase of items like a car and boat and to payback personal loans.

The Washington Post’s Aaron Davis reveals today that after receiving a clean financial audit only a year ago, “in a series of revelations that began in January, the [DC Trust] board learned that former executive director Ed Davies and senior financial officer Earl Hamilton had used taxpayer funds to pay tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of credit-card charges, including some for personal use. Some of the expenses charged by Davies included meals and travel costs for his family members.”  The board’s current members have determined that the group is insolvent and will shut it down.  Eighteen employees will lose their jobs as a result of the fiscal mismanagement.

In 2015, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who the Post states controls the selection of four board members, injected $700,000 into the Trust for youth violence prevention programs as a result of a jump in murders of over 50 percent.

The reason this development is so significant is that up until last September the DC Trust administered the Opportunity Scholarship Program, the private school voucher plan for low income children.  The Trust had taken over the OSP from Joe Robert’s Washington Scholarship Fund in 2010.  Mr. Robert closed the WSF, which had run the Opportunity Scholarship Program since its legislative inception by Congress in 2004, rather than battle with the U.S. Department of Education’s efforts to kill it.

In a fierce behind-the-scenes struggle last summer the contract for managing the OSP was won by Serving Our Children, a non-profit headed by board member Kevin Chavous and whose staff is led by Rachel Sotsky, the deputy legislative director for former Senator Joseph Lieberman when the SOAR Act was created.  The SOAR Act contains within it the three sector federal dollars that provides money for DCPS, D.C. charter schools, and the private school vouchers.

All I can say is that due to the efforts of many local heroes the OSP now has a home where the effort to improve the academic achievement of low income kids can be expanded and strengthened.  Despite all of the numerous political twists and turns the future looks exceedingly bright for this educational life-preserver.

Today, the Washington Post’s Ovetta Wiggins reveals that the Maryland legislature has created a $5 million program that will provide scholarships for low income students to attend private schools.  The reporter indicates that lawmakers have been considering public financial support for a private school voucher program for the last 10 years.  An alternative bill that would have allowed companies to contribute up to $50 million in educational tax credits, patterned after the concept of the Universal Tuition Tax Credit created by my friend Joe Overton, failed to win sufficient support.

Ms. Wiggins reminds us that 16 states now have some form of private school voucher plan, failing to mention the Opportunity Scholarship Program here in the District of Columbia.  Similar to D.C., the teachers’ union vigorously opposed the scholarships, claiming that the program diverts desperately needed dollars away from the traditional public schools.  The OSP derives its money from the federal three sector approach in which Congress provides $15 million a year in increased incremental revenue equally to traditional schools, charters, and private school scholarships.  In Maryland, the cash for vouchers will come from the state’s reserve account.

Sealing the passage of this legislation was strong backing from Democratic representatives.  Delegates Antonio Hayes, Keith Haynes, and others made the case that the scholarships would significantly help black children in Baltimore.  The Post states that “former Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, who is now the president of the University of Baltimore, also pushed for the scholarships, calling private schools ‘a lifesaver’ for many Baltimore students in need.”

It is great to see our neighbors to the north following in our footsteps when it comes to getting behind school choice for those who can benefit from it the most.

History was made yesterday when D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, while speaking about public education in her annual State of the District address from Arena Stage, proudly talked about her support for the city’s private school voucher plan.  This event is so monumental, let’s take a moment to reflect on her exact words:

“I have also called on Congress to renew the SOAR Act, which provides $225 million in education funding over the next 5 years.”

The number to which Ms. Bowser is referring is the $15 million a year in federal dollars for traditional schools, charters, and scholarships for low income students to attend institutions such as Sidwell Friends, St. Peters, and Gonzaga College High School.

Never has the chief executive of Washington D.C. so publicly called for continuation of the Opportunity Scholarship Program.  Thank you Mayor Bowser.

But don’t get me wrong.  All was not perfect on the public policy front on Tuesday.  Here is what Ms. Bowser had to say about charters:

“In order to do all the other things we want to do as a city, we have to get education right.  So with this budget we will make the largest investment in public education in our history – with a $75 million dollar increase over last year!

This means more funding for instruction, and focused programming in both our traditional public schools and our public charter schools.”

Not one mention about providing desperately needed facilities for charters.  Silence about the FOCUS engineered law suit which is desperately trying to bring equality to the $100 million a year in revenue that DCPS gets to which charters are denied access.  No comment about the 22,000 students on charter school waiting lists anxious to get into the DC Public Charter School Board’s Performance Management Framework Tier 1 classrooms.

Moreover, her statement about focused programming is in itself worrisome.  Does this mean the Mayor wants to try to micromanage what is taught in the sector now teaching 39,000 students?

We will come back to all of these subjects on another day.  This morning, let’s piggyback on the Mayor’s remarks and request Congress to re-authorize the SOAR Act as soon as is humanly possible.

Today, the editors of the Washington Post congratulate the D.C. Council members in coming to their senses by reversing their previous position and now urging Congress to re-authorize the SOAR Act which provides low income children in the nation’s capital with scholarships to private school.  The reason for the change of heart comes down to the possible loss of millions of dollars for the city.  The SOAR Act contains within it the three sector approach championed by Joseph E. Robert, Jr. that provides equal funding, this year equating to 15 million each, for private school vouchers, DCPS, and charters.

As explained in the letter to Congress from Mayor Bowser and eight Council members:

“SOAR Act funding for DCPS has been used to support initiatives that reward and increase retention of high performing teachers and principals.  The funds also help attract more high quality teachers and principals to DCPS and to improve the efficiency with which schools are run.  After years of decline, DCPS enrollment is rising for the first time in decades.  Schools that previously struggled to fill their pre-Kindergarten seats have waiting lists and other schools are attracting families back into the system at grade levels that have historically lost students.

Public charter schools in the District represent 44 percent of the public school population of more than 85,000 students with 62 public charter schools on 115 campuses.  Since FY2004, federal funds authorized in the SOAR Act have supported the acquisition, renovation, modernization, and expansion of charter school facilities in the District.  These funds have also been used to improve academic achievement, teacher and leader quality and recruitment, instructional support, and graduation pathways.”

The Washington Post editors also point out that there are now more than 1,900 applications for next year’s 146 open Opportunity Scholarship slots.  Going forward the program could be halted altogether.  The strategy now is to have Congress give the green light for another five years as part of the 2016 omnibus spending bill.  Without passage, DCPS and charters would lose $150 million.

There is breaking news this morning involving the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, the plan that provides private school scholarships to students living in poverty.  In a stunning reversal from last October when Congress was in the process of passing its most recent omnibus spending bill, eight members of the D.C. Council and Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton have now publicly called for re-authorization of the Soar Act, the legislation that contains within it the OSP.

Just five months ago the Council sent a letter to Congress arguing that the voucher program should be shutdown.  Joining them was long-term OSP opponent Norton.  These individuals made the false argument, among others, that the OSP had been forced onto the residents of the District by those on the Hill, against the wishes of local representatives.  Here is a long list of Washington leaders who were advocates of the plan when it was originally authorized.

So what changed their tune?  As an editorial last fall by the Washington Post pointed out in exasperation, the end of the OSP would result in the loss of about $45 million a year in federal dollars to D.C., funds that allocate the vouchers as well as aid the traditional school system and charters.  Since the inception of the voucher program a dozen years ago the three-sector approach has resulted in more than $600 million in money benefiting our school-aged children.

It also did not hurt that recently Senator Cruz introduced a bill that would continue the voucher program using local instead of federal money.

To their credit, Mayor Bowser and D.C. Council Chairman Mendelson tried hard to have the OSP re-authorized the last go around.  However, it was a bold effort that came after all the other politicians had weighed in against it.  Now, the Mayor and Mr. Mendelson have joined seven others from the Council in calling for the voucher program to continue for another five years.  Signing the new letter  to Congress that also were parties on the previous one are members  Alexander, Bonds, and May.  Absent from support of the OSP is the Council’s education committee Chairman Grosso.

Let’s now hope that Congress fixes its past omission and finds a way to re-authorize the Opportunity Scholarship Program.

Last week John B. King, Jr., the individual nominated by President Obama to replace Arne Duncan as U.S. Education Secretary, testified in front of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee as part of the process around his confirmation.  Committee member and School choice powerhouse Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) asked Mr. King to allow the $35 million in Opportunity Scholarship Program carry-over funds to be used to provide additional private school scholarships to children living in poverty in the nation’s capital.  About 1,200 kids are currently taking advantage of the OSP to enroll in school.  The carry-over funds would help 4,000 more kids.  The answer from the man whose department’s mission is to “promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access” was no.

Here’s some background information.  As I’m sure you remember, last December Congress, as part of their omnibus spending bill, was supposed to re-authorize the OSP for an additional five years.  It was one of the last acts Speaker Boehner took in the House before leaving office.  With him gone, the program was only funded for an additional year.  But perhaps most importantly, language that would have improved administration of the plan did not pass.  One significant item included in this legislation was the ability of the OSP to use carry-over funds.  Because the Obama Administration has been trying for eight years to kill this program there is an estimated $35 million in money that has not been awarded for scholarships sitting around just waiting to be handed out.

This political fight is getting old.  As our traditional and charters schools struggle to bring students to academic proficiency there is an educational life-preserver available for those in our community who are most vulnerable for failure.  Can some public official out of kindness and compassion please give them a break?

You can watch Mr. King’s testimony here courtesy of the Center for Education Reform.

The editors of the Washington Post wasted no time in reacting to the failure by Congress to include a five year reauthorization of the Opportunity Scholarship Program in last week’s $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill.  The also did not hide how they feel:

“However, the failure to include a measure that would have safeguarded millions of dollars in funding for public education in the city is both disappointing and exasperating. For that, the District can thank its supposed allies on the hill, the Democrats.”

The editors also point out what the Soar Act containing the OSP has meant to the District since it contains equal amounts of money for private school vouchers, the traditional schools, and charters.  They state:

“The program was created in 2004 as part of a three-pronged investment in D.C. public education that funds the vouchers and provides extra allocations of federal dollars to the public school system and public charter schools. Indeed, the three-sector federal approach has brought more than $600 million to D.C. schools, with traditional public schools receiving $239 million, public charter schools $195 million and the voucher program $183 million.”

But the most important reason that the OSP should be continued has nothing to do with cash.  Affluent families already have school choice.  They can reside in an area with high performing public schools or elect to pay for a private education for their children.  Those living in poverty, the very people served by this program, do not have these options.  We should as a society extend the same right to those on the low end of the economic scale.  It is the only moral thing to do.

In a devastating blow to the children of parents living in poverty in the nation’s capital, yesterday the United States Congress failed to reauthorize the twelve year old D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program as part of the approved $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill.  Now, about 1,500 families will have to find a new school for their children.

The total annual cost of the OSP is $15 million.

As I’m sure you remember, reauthorization for five years of the private school scholarship plan contained in the SOAR Act legislation was one of the last accomplishments of Speaker John Boehner in the House before he left office.

In previous cycles in which the SOAR Act was extended, Mr. Boehner made its continuation a nonnegotiable part of omnibus spending bills with President Obama, who has been desperately trying to shutter the program since he first came into office.  It appears that we have witnessed the first casualty of Mr. Boehner’s retirement.

Definitely not helping matters was the call of D.C.’s non-voting Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton to end it.  Also strongly contributing to this terrible outcome was a letter sent to the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform by eight D.C. Councilmen, including the head of its education committee, opposing the measure.  Sadly, many of the members who were signatories to this document said before it was produced that they would stay neutral on this subject.

An ironic part of the efforts of these individuals is that now the District of Columbia stands to lose $150 million in revenue for charter schools and DCPS.  The federal three sector approach to improving education in the city, which included money for the voucher program as well as for charters and the traditional schools, is dead.

Did anything positive come out of the drive to renew the OSP?  Yes.  There was uncertainty about support from local political leadership for the program.  But it turns out that Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson sent a joint letter to Speaker Paul Ryan and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi requesting that the plan continue.  In addition, when it looked like reauthorization was in danger, both offices called Democratic and Republican members of Congress seeking inclusion of the SOAR Act in the trillion dollar spending bill.

But in the end these efforts proved futile.  Funds were allocated to continue the OSP for one additional year; it actually does not expire for another 12 months.  After that the scholarships will disappear.

This morning, in one of the most forceful columns I have ever read on the subject, the editors of the Washington Post decry efforts by a majority of the D.C. Council to stop re-authorization of the Opportunity Scholarship Program.

Remember that recently the Council sent a letter packed with untruths about the OSP to Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.  The Post picks out one of the most egregious claims; namely that the plan was unwillingly forced upon the District by meddling members of Congress.  Here’s what the editors had to say about that assertion:

“These eight council members seemed unaware that the program was established in 2004 at the initiation of Anthony Williams (D), then D.C.’s mayor, and with the strong support of Kevin Chavous (D), then chair of the council’s Education Committee. Likewise, they were unmoved by polling that has shown 74 percent of D.C. residents support the voucher program, which, despite the specious claims of critics, has improved outcomes for its students without taking a dime from regular public schools.”

But Anthony Williams and Kevin Chavous were far from being alone in partnering for private school scholarships for children living in poverty.  My friend Kaleem Caire recently posted the notes from a coalition meeting held almost exactly 12 years ago to strategize on implementing the program and the three-sector approach.  Among the 49 people attending the session, and I’m sorry I can only list a few, included Carol Adelman, board president Capital Partners for Education; Joe Bruno, charter school project Sallie Mae Fund; Peggy Cooper Cafriz, president D.C. Board of Education; Caroline Cunningham, Greater Washington Board of Trade; Raul Fernandez, Fernandez Group/Washington Capitals; Terry Golden, chairman Federal City Council; Boyden Gray, partner Wilmer, Cutler, and Pickering; Joseph E. Robert, Jr., founder/chairman Fight for Children; Victor Reinoso, vice president for education Federal City Council; Jim Sheldon, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Bruce Steward, head of school Sidwell Friends; Dr. Elfreda Massie, superintendent D.C. Public Schools; and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archdiocese of Washington.

The Post editors also condemn the fact that the eight D.C. representatives appear so willing to give up the funding associated with the three-sector approach:

“Indeed, the three-sector federal approach has brought more than $600 million to D.C. schools, with traditional public schools receiving $239 million, charter public schools $195 million and the voucher program $183 million. At stake for fiscal 2016 is an additional $45 million.”

It is great to see the newspaper coming to the aid of some of our most vulnerable neighbors.  The House is expected to pass the re-authorization today.