[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15663]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               CLEVELAND SCHOLARSHIP AND TUTORING PROGRAM

 Mr. VOINOVICH. Mr. President, today I rise to recognize the 
achievements of the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program. Now in 
its third school year, this program, which is one of only two school 
choice experiments in the country, continues to offer hope and promise 
to nearly 3,700 inner city children and their parents by making private 
schools, including religious schools, affordable. I have been a 
longtime supporter of the Scholarship Program, as well as the school 
choice concept in general. Believing that competition fosters 
improvement, I made the implementation of this pilot school scholarship 
plan one of my education reform priorities by signing a 2-year budget 
package that included $5 million for the introduction of the program in 
1995.
  The Cleveland Scholarship Program is the first of its kind in the 
country that offers state-funded scholarships for use at both secular 
and religious private schools, giving low-income students access to an 
otherwise unattainable private school education in Cleveland, where 
schools graduate a mere 36 percent of its high school seniors. In 
September of 1996, during it's first school year, the program provided 
scholarships to approximately 1,855 students for the public, private, 
or religious school of their choice. Recent growth of the program's 
budget enabled the parents of nearly 3,700 students to use vouchers to 
enroll in 59 participating area schools during the 1998-1999 school 
year.
  Two separate studies by Harvard University on the Cleveland 
Scholarship Program found parents of voucher recipients were more 
satisfied with many aspects of their school than were parents of 
students in Cleveland public schools. That satisfaction included the 
school's academic program, school safety, school discipline, teacher 
skills, the teaching of moral values, and class size. A separate study 
found that test score results in mathematics and reading show 
substantial gains for Cleveland Scholarship Program students attending 
the Hope schools, two non-sectarian schools which were created in 
response to the establishment of the program. Additionally, parents of 
voucher recipients reported lower levels of disruption in their child's 
school--including fighting, racial conflict, and vandalism.
  The results of these studies further underscore the success of this 
program. Time and again, data and surveys from the state have confirmed 
the Cleveland Scholarship Program meets the one true test of any 
taxpayer-supported program--it works. Although the program is not 
without its critics, I believe the best way to put these criticisms to 
rest is to continue demonstrating the program's effectiveness in 
Cleveland as we continue to look beyond the conventional and pursue 
creative and imaginative approaches to education.
  I applaud the achievements of the Cleveland Scholarship Program and 
its contributions to the education of our children, and am proud to say 
that my hometown serves as a model for the rest of the Nation.

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