Obama Administration Ignoring Successful DC Voucher Program

The highly successful voucher program in the District of Columbia saw fewer students enrolled this year than last despite 1,500 new applications and a five million dollar funding increase.

Despite the increased demand and bigger budget, the Department of Education and the Obama administration have been working for a year to limit participation in the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. Lindsey Burke of The Heritage Foundation calls it “unconscionable.”
She said, “If they are serious about doing what works, then that only leads one to believe that this has everything to do with special-interest groups, with union pressure, with politics.”

In March, President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget proposal zeroed out funding for the program, which enjoys a 91-percent graduation rate.