[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 130 (Monday, October 11, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1871]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 4850, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA APPROPRIATIONS 
                               ACT, 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. JOHN A. BOEHNER

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 6, 2004

  Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4850, the 
District of Columbia Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2005, which 
continues to open the door of educational opportunity for the students 
in our nation's capital. This measure fully funds the DC School Choice 
Incentive Act which is fundamentally about providing new options and 
new hope for students and families trapped in a school system that is 
struggling to survive.
  Since the DC School Choice Incentive Program was enacted in January 
2004, the Department of Education conducted a grant competition for the 
administration of the program and has awarded the Washington 
Scholarship Fund (WSF) the opportunity to run the groundbreaking new 
endeavor.
  And WSF is off to a strong start. More than 2,680 students applied 
for scholarships for the 2004-2005 school year, and over 1,840 of those 
students met the eligibility requirements and completed their 
applications. In the middle of June, a lottery was held and 
scholarships were awarded to 1,360 students. Of the eligible public 
school students, only 194 public school students did not receive 
scholarships because of the limitation on available space in grades 6-
12.
  Currently there are 53 District of Columbia private, religious and 
independent schools participating in the program in the 2004-2005 
school year. I am pleased that many of the scholarship students have 
chosen to attend schools in the Center City Consortium--a group of 13 
inner city DC Catholic elementary schools within the Archdiocese of 
Washington located in the most financially challenged neighborhoods in 
the District. These schools work to ensure that Catholic education 
continues to be available to all city families, and have 
enthusiastically begun to educate over 500 scholarship students.
  The WSF is continuing its efforts aggressively to make sure families 
are aware of the scholarships available for the coming school year. 
With more time to prepare for this fall, the program expects more 
schools to participate in 2005-2006, more seats to be available, and 
more parents to apply.
  The strength of this program is that it will not only benefit 
individual students and their families, but the entire education system 
in the District of Columbia. Everyone agrees that the public school 
system will remain the primary source of education for a majority of 
these students. We cannot, and will not, support a proposal that would 
harm these schools.
  My colleague from New Jersey, Mr. Frelinghuysen, has provided 
tremendous leadership in ensuring that the bill before us continues to 
provide new money and new options that offers the neediest students 
opportunities they never had before, and more importantly, provides 
both increased competition and an infusion of funding that will help 
revitalize an entire system and help it to better serve each and every 
student.
  The bill continues to appropriate substantial new funding--and let's 
be clear, this is still new money; we're not draining a single dollar 
from the public school system in the District. The funding is the full 
appropriation for the DC school improvement program--giving $13 million 
for public school improvements, $13 million for charter schools and $14 
million for opportunity scholarships to promote academic achievement 
and school choice.
  This measure allows us the opportunity to make a difference in the 
lives of students and families in the District of Columbia. I'm proud 
of the measure before us and grateful for the work of Chairman 
Frelinghuysen in ensuring the full appropriation. I strongly urge my 
colleagues to join me in support of students and families and the 
entire educational system in the District of Columbia.

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