DC School Vouchers Lack Sufficient Oversight: GAO Report
Posted: 11/15/2013 4:39 pm EST
Washington, D.C.'s school voucher program, a political football often caught up in congressional budget battles, suffers from poor oversight, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Friday.
School vouchers funnel public money into private, and often religious, schools. President George W. Bush signed a law in 2004 that created the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) in 2004, the first federally funded system of school vouchers. Since then, Congress has spent $152 million helping 5,000 students attend private schools. Voucher proponents say they help level the educational playing field between wealthy Americans and low-income families who feel stuck in poor public schools and can't afford to turn elsewhere. Critics argue that vouchers take money away from ailing public school systems, and in some cases strain the separation of church and state.
GAO looked into the program at the behest of Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), as questions swirled around whether it was providing as wide a variety of school choice as intended. Two years ago, more than half of voucher students were attending ju