Senator Lankford Questions White House on Cutting School Choice Options for Low-Income Communities

Press Release

Senators James Lankford (R-OK), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Tim Scott (R-SC) today sent a letter to President Obama questioning the administration's decision to reduce funding for the school choice program in Washington, DC, as well as terminating all future funding for the program, in the President's Fiscal Year 2015 budget request.

The Senators voiced their support for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), which serves predominantly low-income families in Washington, DC. The four-year high school graduation rate in Washington is only 59 percent, but for students in OSP that number soars to 90 percent.

The Senators wrote, "The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program provides scholarships for children of low-income households in the district to attend schools that their families otherwise could never possibly afford. Because the enrollment wait list for D.C. Public Charter Schools totals more than 22,000 applicants, disadvantaged Washington students have limited options in the district's public schools. For many Washington students, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program is the only hope for an opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty."

Lankford serves as Chairman of the of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management, which has jurisdiction over The District of Columbia.

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