The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program provides scholarships to low-income children in Washington D.C. for tuition and other fees at participating private schools. The program was the first Federally funded school voucher program in the United States. It was first approved in 2004, but allowed to expire in 2009[1] and was later reauthorized under the SOAR Act in 2011.
In 2004, President George W. Bush signed the D.C. School Choice Incentive Act of 2003, creating the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program to provide scholarships to students from low-income families to attend a private school of choice.[1] The program targeted 2,000 children from low-income families in Washington D.C. These children were given funding to help offset the cost of private schooling.[1] In 2008, the program funded attendance at 54 D.C. private schools for students from families with an average income of $22,736, "or about 107 percent of the federal poverty level for a family of four."[1]
As of 2009, the program faced being phased out. President Barack Obama’s 2009 budget proposal attempted to cut all funding for the program and also included language to prohibit any new students from receiving scholarships.[2] However, in 2011, Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senator Joe Lieberman introduced the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act, to restore funding for the program and again allow new students to participate. The entirety of the SOAR Act was included in the 2011 long-term continuing resolution, the passage of which resulted in a five-year reauthorization of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program.[3] The 2004 legislation had permitted students to receive scholarships of up to $7,500, whereas the 2011 bill provides scholarships of up to $8,000 for students in kindergarten through eighth grade and up to $12,000 for students in grades 9-12.[4] Between 2004 and 2010, the Washington Scholarship Fund, a nonprofit group, administered the program, which was funded at $12 million a year.[1] As of May 2010, the D.C. Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation is serving as the administrator of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. The program is appropriated to receive $20 million per year,[5] beginning in the 2012-13 school year.[4]
The program has received support from a number of prominent D.C. politicians, including former mayor Anthony A. Williams, former D.C. Council member Kevin P. Chavous and former D.C. Board of Education president Peggy Cooper Cafritz.[1]
In a 2010 evaluation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, researchers found that students who participated in the program had significantly higher graduation rates. Ninety-one percent of scholarship students graduated high school, compared to 70 percent of their peers with similar backgrounds who attended D.C. public schools.[6][3]