Archdiocese of Washington Applauds House Passage of Legislation to Extend Scholarship Program for Low Income Students in District of Columbia
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
WASHINGTON – The Archdiocese of Washington applauds the passage today of H.R. 10, the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act of 2015 (SOAR Act) in a vote of 240 to 191. The bill, introduced earlier this month by House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) reauthorizes the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program through 2022.
The Opportunity Scholarship Program is part of a three-sector program that also includes additional funding for public schools and public charter schools in the District of Columbia. This three-sector program makes $60 million available to be evenly divided among public schools, charter schools and scholarships for low-income families to use at non-public schools.
The majority of Opportunity Scholarship students come from single-parent families and the average household income is approximately $22,000 per year. Nearly half of the students enrolled in the program this year live in Wards 7 and 8 of the District, the most economically challenged areas, and almost all of them, 99.7 percent, would otherwise be zoned for what has been classified as a “School in Need of Improvement.” Reauthorization of OSP would mean parents in the nation’s capital would continue to have the option of selecting a school that best fits the educational needs of their children. Since 2004, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program has been a popular and effective program providing a quality private school education to nearly 6,200 very low-income children within the District of Columbia.
The archdiocese is hopeful for swift passage of the SOAR Act’s companion legislation in the U.S. Senate, S. 2171.
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The Archdiocese of Washington is home to over 620,000 Catholics, 139 parishes and 95 Catholic schools, located in Washington, D.C., and five Maryland counties: Calvert, Charles, Montgomery, Prince George’s and St. Mary’s.
CONTACT:
Chieko Noguchi or Lindsey Frechou
301-853-4516
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