Archdiocese of Washington Asks Congressional Leadership to Reauthorize DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) through 2022
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the Archdiocese of Washington and national and local stakeholders learned that the SOAR Act is not in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016.
The SOAR Act would reauthorize through 2022, the three-sector program that benefits schools and low-income families in the District of Columbia. The SOAR Act gives $60 million in funding to be evenly divided among public schools, charter schools and low-income families to use at non-public schools. Parents in the nation’s capital should continue to have the option of selecting a school that best fits the educational needs of their children. Since its inception in 2004, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) has been a popular and effective program providing a quality private school education to nearly 6,200 low-income children within the District of Columbia, having a positive impact on our city’s children.
In Mayor Bowser and Chairman Mendelson’s December 11 letter to congressional leadership they stated, “The SOAR Reauthorization Act authorizes critical education funding for the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) and public charter schools that has helped greatly in improving the District’s education system…The voucher program does not take away from education funding in the District. On the contrary, it adds to it.”
The Archdiocese of Washington is in full support of the reauthorization of this popular and effective program for families in the nation’s capital.
The D.C. Catholic Conference and collaborating organizations are mobilizing a grassroots campaign on behalf of all children in the nation’s capital. Take action here.
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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. www.adw.org.
CONTACT:
Chieko Noguchi or Lindsey Frechou
301-853-4516
[email protected]