I've given Arne Duncan and the rest of the Obama Administration a hard time today for its decision to rescind "opportunity scholarships" from 200 needy District of Columbia students. But it's only fair to say that this decision didn't happen in a vacuum. Take a look at this language about D.C. from the Congressional conference report that accompanied the recently passed Omnibus Appropriations Act (it's on page 29 if you want to see for yourself):
The bill includes $54,000,000 for a Federal payment for school improvement, an increase of $13,200,000 over the fiscal year 2008 enacted level. Within this amount, $20,000,000 is for public schools, $20,000,000 is for public charter schools, and $14,000,000 is to provide opportunity scholarships.
Funding provided for the private scholarship program shall be used for currently-enrolled participants rather than new applicants. (Emphasis added.)
Now, these conference reports are non-binding; they don't carry the force of law. But they do express the will of Congress (or, in this case, whoever the weasel was that inserted this language on behalf of the NEA and AFT).
Arne Duncan could have told the Hill to take a hike; I wish he had. But with the fate of 1,700 students (those currently enrolled in the program) still hanging in the balance, one can also see why he didn't.
Image from U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
