Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 10 - Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Reauthorization Act

(House Rules)

(Rep. Boehner, R-Ohio, and 14 cosponsors)

H.R. 10 would reauthorize the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act, which provides Federal support for improving traditional public schools in the District of Columbia (D.C.), expanding and improving high-quality D.C. public charter schools, and offering private school vouchers to a limited number of students. The Administration continues to strongly oppose the private school vouchers program within this legislation, known as the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program.

Rigorous evaluation over several years demonstrates that D.C. vouchers have not yielded statistically significant improvements in student achievement by scholarship recipients compared to other students not receiving vouchers. In addition, H.R. 10 would extend this voucher program to a new population of students previously attending private schools. Instead of using Federal resources to support a handful of students in private schools, the Federal Government should focus its attention and available resources on improving the quality of public schools for all students.