The Bush administration and Republican legislators have proposed a $100 million national plan to offer low-income students private-school "opportunity scholarships" to leave low-performing public schools. The plan has been denounced by Democrats, unions and several education advocacy groups.

"They are calling this a scholarship. A voucher is a voucher. Where I come from, it's called perfuming a pig," said Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association and member of The Campaign's National Advisory Council. "Anything that takes away from our ability to better our schools is wrong."

U.S. Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, accompanied by Senate and House leaders on Capitol Hill, said the "opportunity scholarship" plan would be aimed at helping low-income students "trapped" in poor schools by offering them transfers to other public schools, tutoring, and scholarships to private schools, up to $4,000 per student. The secretary said the plan would cover 28,000 students.

Spellings said that if schools cannot show progress after six years of required improvements under the federal No Child Left Behind law, then parents must be offered a way out for their children.

Spellings was pressed by reporters on whether private schools would be held to the same accountability standards under the plan, since they would be taking public money.

See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/18/AR2006071801305.html

Published Friday, Aug. 11, 2006