A record number of District of Columbia students are enrolled in the city’s school-choice voucher program this year, officials announced Wednesday, pointing to what they consider strong interest in the controversial scholarship initiative.

“There are two sorts of demands at play,” said Greg Cork, chief executive officer of the Washington Scholarship Fund. “There’s the demand for low-income families to find quality schooling, and the demand from non-public schools looking forward to serving our students.”

The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program is funding 1,903 low-income pupils this year, a 5.5 percent increase over last year.

The students are attending 54 of the 60 private schools that signed up to participate. These schools are spread across all D.C. wards, with the highest number in Ward 8, which includes parts of Southeast and Southwest D.C.

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The voucher program began in the District in 2004 and uses federal funds to provide low-income children up to $7,500 per year to cover tuition, transportation and fees at non-public facilities. The program received $12.1 million in federal funding this year.

To be eligible, students’ household incomes must be below 185 percent of the federal poverty line, which translates to $38,203 for a family of four. On average, though, household incomes for participants are a mere $22,963.

Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., who helped spur passage of the legislation that created the program, applauded vouchers Wednesday.

“It’s extremely gratifying to see this program we worked so hard to bring to families in the nation’s capital enjoying such enormous popularity and success,” he said in a written statement. “Students and parents are saying in record numbers that they demand quality education and are willing to stand in line for scholarships to receive it.”

Still, a number of agencies and public-interest groups have come out against the school voucher movement, charging that the millions of federal dollars used to send children to private schools should be devoted to improving public schools.

dlevitz@dcexaminer.com