Via Center For Education Reform:
Last night, the House voted 221-202 in favor of an omnibus spending bill that – if also passed in the Senate – will once and for all kill the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. While students who currently have scholarships would not be pulled from their existing schools, they will not be able to matriculate to a new school once their current one ends, nor have their siblings join them. It’s back to the failed public schools they were desperate to leave, or the waiting lists of the city’s best charters.
The Senate may be acting as soon as this weekend to vote on the spending bill, which contains lots of pork projects for legislators’ hometowns while eliminating the DC choice program.
But just like in Mr. Smith Goes to Washingtion, it really does just take one Senator to say NO.
Call or write your Senator today and tell him/her you want the program preserved and that you’ll be watching. The Senate switchboard number is (202) 224-3121.
And call the senior Senator from Illinois – Dick Durbin – whose opposition, and then waffling, has put us in this position. His number is (202) 224-2152 or you can contact him online.