Federal voucher program proposed

The program, included in the Bush Administration’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2007, would provide vouchers to as many as 28,000 low-income students to help them pay the tuition at private and religious schools.

The Bush Administration has long sought the creation of a national voucher program and is not expected to be deterred by a federal report released a few days earlier that found private schools are no better than public schools.

The “America’s Opportunity Scholarships for Kids” legislation is sponsored by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.); Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.); Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.), chair of the Committee on Education and the Workforce; and Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas).

The legislation (S.3682 and H.R.5822) would authorize $100 million in fiscal year 2007 for competitive grants to states, schools, school districts, and nonprofit organizations to provide vouchers of up to $4,000 to low-income children in “persistently underperforming schools to attend the private school of their choice.”

The choice option would be available to children in schools identified for restructuring under No Child Left Behind.

The U.S. Department of Education reports that 1,065 schools were identified for restructuring in the 2004-05 school year. Another 1,000 schools are expected to reach this status in 2005-06.

The bills also authorize states, school districts, and nonprofit organizations to provide up to $3,000 to low-income students for intensive, “sustained supplemental educational services” if they don’t want to transfer to a private school. Such services would include tutoring, after-school, or summer school programs aimed at improving academic achievement.

Spellings and the congressional sponsors of the bills gave no indication that they would support more accountability for private schools accepting voucher students.

NSBA opposes all attempts to use public funds to support private schools.

“Congress needs to live up to its commitment to school­children by adequately funding No Child Left Behind, not spending millions on private school tuition,” said Marc Egan, director of federal affairs at NSBA. “The irony of this proposal is that it would gut a core principle of NCLB because private schools receiving tax dollars would not be held publicly accountable for student performance.”