Senate passes school voucher amendment

“School board members are disappointed and angered by the Senate’s vote to create what amounts to a national private school voucher program under the guise of emergency hurricane relief for schools,” says NSBA President Joan Schmidt.

“It was unnecessary for the Senate to turn a much-needed hurricane relief proposal into a vehicle for what may become the largest, costliest private school voucher program in U.S. history,” Schmidt says.

NSBA opposes the use of taxpayer dollars to aid private schools that do not have to accept all students and are not accountable to the public.

After rejecting a voucher amendment by Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) by a recorded vote of 68-31, the Senate passed Alexander’s amendment (S.1904) by an unrecorded voice vote.

The bill authorizes $1.2 billion to provide vouchers worth up $6,000 per student (and $7,500 per student with disabilities) to aid public and private schools that have enrolled displaced students.

This amended version of the bill cuts in half the authorized amount in an earlier version of S.1904, which called for $2.4 billion. As a result, since there are an estimated displaced 372,000 students, the bill could only be expected to provide $3,000 per student.

As a result, the bill would disproportionately benefit private schools that have enrolled displaced students.

“The original proposal, S. 1904, was misguided and not in the best interest of our public schoolchildren,” Schmidt says. “The amended version took a bad bill and made it worse. It still contains private school vouchers, yet also includes fewer funds for damaged and destroyed public schools, as well as for public schools around the nation that have taken in students displaced by the recent devastating hurricanes.”

The latest version of the bill would provide only half the amount in the earlier version ($450 million instead of $900 million) in immediate aid for damaged public schools. It also provides only $10 million for education for the homeless (rather than the earlier bill’s $50 million), and it eliminates a provision calling for $100 million in supplemental services and after-school programs for districts with displaced students.

It also eliminates language from the earlier version that says the voucher assistance is being provided “solely because of the unprecedented nature of the crisis, the massive dislocation of students, and the short duration of assistance.”

NSBA is pleased that the House Education and the Workforce Committee rejected Boehner’s bill to create “family education reimbursement accounts,” a voucher-like concept for assisting public and private schools that have enrolled displaced students.

The House voucher bill was rejected on a 26-21 vote, with four Republicans — Judy Biggert (Ill.), Todd Platts (Pa.), John R. “Randy” Kuhl Jr. (N.Y.), and Bob Inglis (S.C.) — voting against it. Another Republican on the committee, Tom Osborne (Neb.), didn’t vote.

Even though this proposal was rejected in committee, Boehner has asked the Rules Committee to add it to the budget reconciliation measure, so it’s possible that a voucher vote could come up on the House floor in the near future.

The Boehner bill would have allowed the creation of one-year accounts worth up to $6,700 per child to help public, private, and charter K-12 schools and preschools address the additional operating expenses of educating displaced students.

It called for parents of eligible children to be responsible for requesting a “reimbursement account.” And since parents don’t pay for public education, there would be no incentive for them to set up one of these accounts.

NSBA believes the federal government can provide relief to private schools through a Title I model, in which school districts provide services on an equitable basis to eligible private school students. 

Meanwhile, congressional conferees are expected to meet soon to consider an education appropriations bill for fiscal year 2006. The pending bill (H.R.3010) would fund the Title I and special education programs at levels far below what is needed.

If H.R.3010 is enacted in its current form, the shortfall in Title I funding would increase by more than $9 billion compared to the amount of funding Congress authorized for fiscal year 2006 when it passed the No Child Left Behind Act.

For the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the appropriations bill would provide only $10.7 billion — far less than the $14.6 billion authorized by Congress.

During debate on the Senate floor Oct. 27, amendments to increase funding for Title I and IDEA were rejected.

There’s also a possibility that across-the-board cuts could be added to the appropriations bill, further eroding the federal investment in education.

The pending five-year budget reconciliation legislation also is of deep concern to school leaders. Although budget resolutions are not binding, they set a framework for spending limits that are difficult to exceed.

President Bush has proposed rescinding $2.3 billion in funds already appropriated, including $151 million for several education programs.