Has he, mortal enemy of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, seen the error of his ways? Or as the Wall Street Journal puts it, “Do you believe in political miracles?” Earlier this year, Senator Dick Durbin, of which we speak, inserted language into the fiscal year 2009-2010 Congressional budget that cuts the program from next year’s expenditures. Now he’s changed his tune. “I have to work with my colleagues if this is going to be reauthorized, which it might be.” It’s not clear why Durbin has changed his mind, though he recently visited one of the private schools participating in the program and acknowledged that “many students are getting a good education from the program.” Newsflash: Third-year results released last June from a Department of Education evaluation of the program found that OPS students had made, on average, 3.1 more months progress in reading than their peers who were not offered a voucher. But Durban remains worried about accountability, specifically how scholarship recipients are being academically evaluated while in the program. May we offer you some committee reading? We happen to have a thing or two to say about that very topic.
“Dick Durbin and D.C. School Vouchers,” Wall Street Journal, September 30, 2009