September 11, 2003

Senator Lincoln Chafee

141A Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510 

Senator Arlen Specter

711 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senators:

We are writing in regards to S. 1583, the DC Student Opportunity Scholarship Act of 2003.  As you are aware, this bill currently contains $40 million for education in the District of Columbia, including $13 million each for private school vouchers, public charter schools, and public schools complying with the No Child Left Behind Act.

At every opportunity, proponents of vouchers have paraded the support of a few of our colleagues in the District government for this measure.  Nonetheless, we are compelled to repeat that majorities of the Council, Board of Education, and residents of the District of Columbia continue to oppose the use of public money on private school vouchers.

The $13 million earmarked for vouchers will finance up to $7,500 in private school tuition for not more than 2,000 students, which is just 3 percent of the roughly 67,000 students in the District’s public school population.  We propose that the portion marked for vouchers should instead be added to the amount appropriated to schools for compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act, so that a total of $26 million will go to public schools and $13 million to public charter schools.  We believe that an amendment achieving this goal will improve the District’s most underperforming schools and will have a greater benefit for the city’s children.

Sincerely,

 _____________________________                        ______________________________

Councilmember Carol Schwartz                                    Councilmember Adrian M. Fenty

 ______________________________                        ______________________________

Councilmember Sandy Allen                                         Councilmember Phil Mendelson

 ______________________________                        ______________________________

Councilmember Vincent B. Orange, Sr.             Councilmember Jim Graham

 cc:        Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton

September 11, 2003

 Senator Edward Kennedy

317 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

 Dear Senator Kennedy:

We are writing in regards to S. 1583, the DC Student Opportunity Scholarship Act of 2003.  As you are aware, this bill currently contains $40 million for education in the District of Columbia, including $13 million each for private school vouchers, public charter schools, and public schools complying with the No Child Left Behind Act.

At every opportunity, proponents of vouchers have paraded the support of a few of our colleagues in the District government for this measure.  Nonetheless, we are compelled to repeat that majorities of the Council, Board of Education, and residents of the District of Columbia continue to oppose the use of public money on private school vouchers.

The $13 million earmarked for vouchers will finance up to $7,500 in private school tuition for not more than 2,000 students, which is just 3 percent of the roughly 67,000 students in the District’s public school population.  We propose that the portion marked for vouchers should instead be added to the amount appropriated to schools for compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act, so that a total of $26 million will go to public schools and $13 million to public charter schools.  We believe that an amendment achieving this goal will improve the District’s most underperforming schools and will have a greater benefit for the city’s children.

Sincerely,

______________________________                        ______________________________

Councilmember Carol Schwartz                                    Councilmember Adrian M. Fenty

______________________________                        ______________________________

Councilmember Sandy Allen                                         Councilmember Phil Mendelson

______________________________                        ______________________________

Councilmember Vincent B. Orange, Sr.             Councilmember Jim Graham

cc:        Senator Thomas Daschle

            Senator Mary Landrieu

            Senator Richard Durbin

            Senator Robert Byrd

            Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton

(Source:  Courtesy of Del. Eleanor Holmes-Norton  at http://www.norton.house.gov/isssues2.cfm?id=6531)

FROM:   Councilmember Carol Schwartz

               Councilmember Jim Graham

               Councilmember Phil Mendelson

               Councilmember Sandra Allen

               Councilmember Vincent Orange

               Councilmember Adrian Fenty

               Board of Education, Vice Chair, Mirian Saez

               Board of Education, Member, Dwight Singleton

               Board of Education, Member, Tommy Wells

               Board of Education, Member, William Lockridge

We very much appreciate Senate efforts to get additional funds for the
District of Columbia public schools.  However, we are concerned about the
effect of a pending vouchers amendment to the D.C. appropriation.  We
support recent efforts in the Senate to remove vouchers from the pending
Senate appropriation rather than linking funds for our public schools to
vouchers.  It is important to recognize that the District of Columbia has
established two sets of publicly accountable alternatives: transformation
schools and charter schools.

First, three years ago, Superintendent Paul Vance established 15
transformation schools, among our lowest performing schools, attended by
many of our lowest income children.  These children have scored the first
significant improvements in Stanford 9 achievement scores.  Extra services
provided to parents and children alike, as well as new faculty, are largely
responsible for these gains.  We hope you agree that these children in our
successful alternative public schools deserve first priority for federal
funding, especially now when the school system is making $40 million in cuts
because of budget pressures.  These cuts will likely affect the continued
progress of children in the transformation schools.  We believe that the
provision in the Senate appropriations bill for the D.C. public schools
would help shore up the loss of funds to transformation and other D.C.
public schools.

Second, the District of Columbia has established the largest number of
charter schools per capita in the country. However, these charter schools
are so popular that the city cannot keep up with the demand, particularly
for adequate facilities.  Funds are urgently needed to provide these
facilities so that we can move children from warehouses and churches to
appropriate buildings, as the Senate bill would allow.

We do not believe that it is fair to place the District of Columbia at the
center of a debate on vouchers.  We ask that you remove us from this
controversial debate by eliminating the voucher provision.  This action
would go a long way toward freeing the D.C. appropriation while preserving
funds for the deserving students in our public and charter schools.

Thank you for your help in this important matter.

(Source:  Courtesy of Del. Eleanor Holmes-Norton  at http://www.norton.house.gov/isssues2.cfm?id=6531)