RSS
Home
Obama reverses decision axing D.C. voucher program
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
President Barack Obama has agreed to extend the controversial Washington D.C. school voucher program until the current 1,716 participants have graduated from high school.
However, no new students will be accepted into the program, which was created in 2003 to provide low-income students with a maximum $7,500 grant to attend a private or parochial school.
Budget documents to be released tomorrow would provide $12.2 million for the Opportunity Scholarship Program for the 2009-2010 school year, according to the Washington Post.
“It didn't make sense to take kids out of a school where they're happy and safe and satisfied and learning," explained Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program was originally slated to end next year, as a provision to end the program was slipped into Congress' $410 billion omnibus spending bill by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., whose children attend private school.
The amendment to end the program has angered parents who say that the vouchers have raised performance and rescued students from one of the country's worst public school systems.
According to Fox News, an estimated 1,000 parents, children and community leaders protested Wednesday and called on D.C. politicians to help preserve the program.
On the other hand, teachers’ unions and other groups have argued that vouchers are experimental and are not helping children.
“The D.C. program "an ongoing threat to public education in the District of Columbia," according to National Education Association president Dennis Van Roekel. He urged Obama to "use your voice to help eliminate this threat" by opposing "any efforts to extend this ineffective program."
While the continuance of the program has angered union leadership, conservative backers of the program are not thrilled by recent events, either.
While the continuance of the program has angered union leadership, conservative backers of the program are not thrilled by recent events, either.
Obama has “flip flopped,” according to talk show radio host Rush Limbaugh. He says that it makes no sense to continue the program for current students, but to not allow new students the same opportunities.
”Either the voucher program works, or it doesn’t,” he said. “If it doesn’t work, then discontinue it. If it does work, then don’t limit it by turning away new students.”
He huffed that by not allowing new students into the program, “they are turning as many districts into Detroit as they can.”
Limbaugh is referring to the district that is losing thousands of students each year, and has about a 70% dropout rate. The district has also been bleeding millions of dollars each year, and the state of Michigan has recently appointed an emergency financial management.
For more information, see:
Related Articles:
Comments
A pre-kindergarten student was suspended and then placed in isolation at a suburban Dallas school because his long hair violates the school's …
Does your state have plans to apply for some of the billions of dollars of educational stimulus funds that will be doled out in the Race to the Top …
- Barack Obama's Letter to His Daughters Emphasizes Education
- Have Teachers' Unions Been Betrayed by Obama?
- How Will Obama's Stimulus Plan Affect College Students?
- Obama Stimulus Plan: $100 Billion Education Dollars
- Text of Obama's Education Speech Released
- What Should Obama Tell Us About Childhood Obesity and Health Care?
- Are Charter Schools Good for Our Children?
- Charter School Leaders and Homeschoolers Work Together as More Students Choose These Options
- Charter School List Grows in Metro Detroit Area
- Charter School Pays College Costs for Graduates Who Agree to Help City
- Charter Schools Enroll 1.4 Million Nationwide While Demand Rises
- Charter Schools Key to School Reform
- Detroit Billionaire Works With New Mayor Bing to Open Charter School
- Sharpton, Gingrich Join to Challenge Educational Establishment, Promote Charter Schools
- ACT Versus SAT: Which College Exam Should You Take?
- Buying Textbooks Online: Save Money
- Choosing a College
- College Students Can Get $2500 Tax Credit Under Stimulus Plan
- Finding Scholarships
- How Should Parents Communicate With Their College Students?
- Renting Calculators to Save Money
- Renting College Textbooks
- Students Pay No Tuition But Work for Campus Businesses at College of the Ozarks
- Watching Your Teen Pack for Freshman Year of College
- Why Do So Many College Students Drop Out?
- Divorce and Homeschooling
- Homeschoolers are Successful in College
- Homeschoolers Score Higher Than 86% of Peers
- Homeschooling Numbers Double in a Decade
- Homeschool Statistics and Laws
- Talented and Hilarious Homeschooling Moms Sing to Their Neighbors
- Top 10 Reasons to Criminalize Home Schooling
- Unschooling is Homeschooling that Fits Many Familes
- Do Public School Really Need More Money?
- Lawsuit Against No Child Left Behind Dismissed
- Should Inmates Earn Diplomas in Prison?
- Should Parents Receive Tax Rebates for Private School Tuition?
- States Turn Back on Race to the Top Funds Due to Educator Concerns
- THE WAR ON KIDS Movie Director Thinks Public Schools Resemble Prisons
- Why is the US Public School System Struggling?
- ACORN Receives Millions From Teachers' Unions
- Retired Educator Bravely Gives Opinion on Teacher Unions
- Should School District Union Negotiations be Public?
- Should Schools Implement Merit Pay for Teachers?
- Should Teachers Strike Illegally?
- Should Teachers' Union Dues Pay for Politics?
- Survey Says Teacher Satisfaction Has Risen
- Teachers and Homeschools can Buy and Sell Used Supplies on New Website
- Teachers' Union Discourages Members from Volunteering at School
- Teachers' Unions Stuggle During Recession
- Will Teachers Lose Their Union-Owned Health Insurance?
- Do You Monitor Your Teens' Internet Activity?
- High School Students Taking More Online Classes
- Internet Monitoring Tools Helpful to Students, Parents
- Should Schools Monitor Student Internet Activity?
- Teaching Your Kids About Money Online
- Teenagers are Using More Pot and Pills but Fewer Cigarettes and Less Alcohol
- 26.8% of Students in Detroit Graduate
- 29 Detroit Schools Will Close; 40 Failing Schools Will Restructure
- Bill Cosby to Help Robert Bobb Promot Desperate Detroit Schools
- Detroit Public Schools Request Disaster Funding from US Education Department
- Millions of Stimulus Dollars to Pay for Massive Academic Overhaul of Detroit Schools
- Parents Want Teachers and Administrators Jailed Due to Failures of Detroit Public Schools
- Power Control at Issue as Detroit School Board Sues State Manager
- Reading Revolution Program for Desperate Detroit Public Schools Recruits 800+ Volunteer Tutors
- Will Detroit Public Schools Declare Bankruptcy?
