The Teacher's Unions do not want any kind of voucher bill out of Congress. So even though the DC Pols are for it, it can't get passed.
Foes Halt Vote on School Vouchers
Democrats Reject Senate's D.C. Bill
By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 18, 2003; Page A01
Senate Democrats blocked a school voucher plan for the District yesterday, posing the first serious test in Congress to President Bush's national education initiative and leaving its future in doubt.
The chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee postponed for at least a week the vote on the city's $5.6 billion budget after Democrats, bolstered by the defection of Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), threatened to strip a school choice program from the bill. The program would divide $40 million among D.C. public schools, public charter schools and a new private school tuition voucher program offering up to $7,500 per student for about 2,000 children.
Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), who endorsed a voucher plan on condition that it include money for public schools and charter schools, was traveling yesterday. His chief of staff, Kelvin J. Robinson, said he expected the measure to pass. "We believe there are some Democrats for whom this is not a partisan issue but rather it's a parental choice issue," Robinson said.
Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.), ranking minority member on the Appropriations subcommittee on the District, said Democrats are prepared to hold the full city budget on the Senate floor until the voucher provision is revoked.
"If this issue gets to the floor, the D.C. bill will probably be held up by any number of senators," said Landrieu, whose strong opposition to diverting federal funds to private schools surprised Republicans and voucher supporters, who had been negotiating with her for weeks.
The partisan standoff in yesterday's chaotic committee hearing, which was rescheduled or delayed three times as Republicans scrambled in vain to win support from wavering Democrats, reflected the political firestorm around the Bush school choice initiative and its uncertain prospects in both chambers.
Two weeks ago, House Republicans approved a $10 million vouchers-only bill out of the Government Reform Committee by only a single vote, raising doubts over the bill's fate on the House floor.
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee and a supporter of the president's plan, acknowledged Republicans' doubts at being able to pass the plan out of committee next week or on the floor later.
"I'm not sure whether we'll have the votes or not," Gregg said. "Today, we had the votes, we didn't have the votes, we had the votes. . . . Whether there are enough to overcome a filibuster, if that's what they're threatening, I don't know."
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) chided District leaders for supporting the White House initiative and said they had walked into a replay of a 1997 battle in which a GOP-led Congress tried to pass a voucher plan for the city before retreating from a veto threat by President Bill Clinton.
"I very much regret that vouchers have returned to haunt and halt another D.C. appropriations bill," Norton said. "People really underestimated how unpopular vouchers are in Congress."
As offered by Senate Republicans yesterday, the plan would authorize the U.S. Department of Education to administer a $13 million Opportunity Scholarship grant program to about 2,000 students from low-income families, send another $13 million to D.C. Public Schools and send $13 million to D.C. Public Charter schools and $1 million to the city for administrative costs.
The voucher program would be open to families earning up to 175 percent of the poverty level, about $27,000 a year for a family of three. About 68,000 students are enrolled in D.C. public schools and 11,600 in the city's public charter schools. Another 14,000 children attend private schools in the District at an average annual tuition of about $12,000, a figure skewed higher by a small number of expensive secondary schools in the city.
Yesterday, Republicans accused Democrats of trying to slash $40 million in education funds from the District, sacrificing the dreams of parents from low-income families for quality education for their children and opposing local voucher supporters including Williams, school board Chairman Peggy Cooper Cafritz and D.C. Council member Kevin P. Chavous (D-Ward 7).
"This is $40 million of new money going to the children of Washington that they never would have gotten otherwise," Gregg said.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said: "This bill adds money for public schools that the [Democrats] will delete. It is a matter of respect to the government of this area."
Democrats wanted to let the city keep the new dollars for public education but rejected the voucher program. Sen. Richard J. Durbin (Ill.) said the plan posed a "dangerous" departure from constitutional tradition by sending public funds to religious schools. He also said it would not require private schools to meet accountability standards set in 2002 for public schools under the No Child Left Behind Act, including teacher certification, student testing and safety requirements.
Landrieu said the GOP-led Congress has left the 2002 public education reforms $6.8 billion short of full funding, a gap that lawmakers should fill before using the District as a "guinea pig."
"We need to stick and stay the course," Landrieu said. "This diverts us from the course, the mission, and holds out false promise to these children."
But Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) emerged as a potential swing vote. After 30 years of opposing vouchers, Feinstein said the continuing troubles of some public schools despite increasing funds would persuade her to support the voucher program if her concerns over the constitutional separation of church and state were resolved.
Specter, the only GOP committee member who said he would vote with Democrats, said White House aides lobbied him in vain. He cited longstanding arguments that vouchers would promote religious discrimination and erode public accountability and constitutional protections.
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