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(The voucher proposals for Washington, D.C. all originate in the United States Congress. There has been no local legislation to implement the taxpayer funded private school subsidy plan. There are two major congressional plans in Congress to institute school vouchers for D.C. Both pieces of legislation would provide taxpayer funded grants to D.C. students to attend private schools. The private schools are not required to accept school vouchers; private schools are free to choose or reject students with vouchers just as they are those without. Voucher plans typically permit discrimination in admissions on gender, sexual orientation, disability bases and use federal funds to pay for religious instruction.) ACTION NEEDED as of Tuesday November 18, 2003
A Senate Committee has approved vouchers for D.C., but the fight is not over yet. Please call Congress now.
TAKE ACTION: Please call these Senators to Show Opposition to School Vouchers.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) at 202-224-3841;she departed from a 30 year record to support vouchers. Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) at 202-224-3954; he vote for DC vouchers in the Senate Committee. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) at 202-224-5824; she abstained from the vote but opposes vouchers. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mt.) at 202-224-2644, Sen. Christopher Bond (R-Mo.) at 202-224-5721 Sen. Ben Campbell (R-Co) at 202-224-5852 Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) at 202-224-4254; he crossed party lines to vote against vouchers for DC
Is California GOVERNOR DAVIS' RECALL Helping the Push for a Voucher Plan in D.C.?
Sadly, long-time opponent
of school vouchers, Senator Dianne Feinstein, has become the swing vote in
the Senate Appropriations committee considering the voucher legislation. One
opinion is that her decision may be influenced by the shifting political
climate in
Republican Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) has joined the side of those seeking public funding only for public schools, rejecting public subsidies for private and parochial schools in part out of concern for discrimination on religious grounds. He is opposing school vouchers for D.C. Read more analysis here.
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