Great news for the Washington, D.C. families who are sending their children to private school with publicly-funded Opportunity Scholarships!
Friday night’s eleventh-hour agreement between Democrats and Republicans that averted the government shutdown also reauthorized the D.C. scholarship program for five more years.
Although the House of Representatives had passed a bill last month to allow the program to continue, it was uncertain that the bill would gain support in the Senate. However, House Leader John Boehner, a long-time supporter of parental choice, insisted that continuing the scholarship program be part of the Friday night budget agreement.
Now the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program is safe, so the children currently using the scholarships will be allowed to remain in their private schools, but also the opportunity will be extended to new families who want to send their children to D.C. private schools.
Read more about the Opportunity Scholarship Program at the National Review Online and the Washington Post, and watch a video from John Boehner which includes testimony from Lesly A., an 8th grader who’s using an OSP award to attend Sacred Heart School in Washington.