Saturday, May 3, 2008

The April 29 editorial "Vouching for Vouchers" puzzled me. It praised "home rule" and supported the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which provides grants for low-

income children to attend private schools. But it dismissed Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton's opposition to the measure, and it ignored the fact that in 1981, D.C. voters defeated a similar plan by a crushing 89 percent to 11 percent (not to mention the fact that voters around the country have decisively rejected vouchers at the polls 26 times).

Alan Barth, who served for almost three decades on The Post's editorial board, was right when he wrote in a March 3, 1971, op-ed piece: "Americans have every right . . . to send their children to private schools . . . But they have no more right to ask the general public to pay for such schools . . . than to ask the general public to pay for the . . . church in which they are free to gather."

Whatever educational services can be provided by nonpublic schools can also be provided by well-managed, adequately funded public schools.

If the District were a state and had a constitution like Virginia's, this voucher issue would be dead.

KENNETH A. STEVENS

Savage, Md.

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I agree with the April 29 editorial supporting the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. I don't know what I would do without the program. I am a single mother on a fixed income, but most important, I am the proud mother of 9-year-old Breanna, who has a D.C. Opportunity Scholarship.

Four years ago, when Breanna was starting kindergarten, I did not know where I would send her to school. What I did know was that the two schools in my neighborhood were in serious need of improvements, both academically and physically.

Today Breanna is at Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian school, right in our own neighborhood, and has made the honor roll for three semesters. I thank our local leaders who are working to improve education. This program makes a difference, and I am grateful that Breanna is receiving the high-quality education she deserves.

APRIL COLE-WALTON

Washington