Fate of D.C. Voucher Program Darkens

"I do not wish to inject myself and my opinions into D.C. issues . . . D.C. does not need a second mayor."

Joseph E. Robert Jr., chairman of the board of the nonprofit Washington Scholarship Fund, which administers the program, was unavailable to comment. According to fund executive director Greg Cork, there were 1,903 K-12 students using about $12 million in scholarship funds at 54 D.C. private schools at the start of the 2007-08 school year. The average income among those participating families is $22,736, or about 107 percent of the federal poverty level for a family of four.

Creation of the fund in 2004 put the District at the forefront of the school-choice movement. At that time, the Republican-led federal government was taking steps to use the nation's capital -- with its ailing public school system -- as a showcase for educational reforms, which also included the country's most sweeping charter school law.

Parents of scholarship recipients offer high praise for the program, crediting it with changing the direction of their children's lives. Patricia William, whose son Fransoir, 11, is a sixth-grader at Sacred Heart, a Catholic school in Northwest, said his growth has been striking.

"He's been developed in many ways, intellectually, emotionally and in his values," she said. "I couldn't ask for anything better."

Wendy Cunningham said her daughter Jordan, who will be a senior, has thrived since entering Georgetown Day School two years ago and has had access to opportunities that likely would not be available otherwise. This summer, Cunningham said, Jordan will enter summer programs at Catholic University and San Francisco State.

"Other people should have the same opportunity and choices," said Cunningham, who supplements the voucher money with other funds to make the school's $26,000 tuition.

The program has also drawn criticism. A 2007 Government Accountability Office study found that some participating private schools lacked proper permits to operate. It has also been faulted for allowing ineligible families to receive federal funds and for failing to ensure that families selected accredited schools.

Cork said in e-mails that fund officials followed the rules and that the ultimate decision about where to attend was up to the families.

Opponents said they thought the program blurred the separation of church and state because more than half of the students have enrolled in religious schools, most of them Catholic. One reason, proponents said, is the prohibitive expense of many secular private schools.

Norton said she has warned fund officials that the program would be killed by Congress and that it was important to start telling families that the vouchers would not be continued indefinitely.

She also said she has in the past week met with families receiving scholarships and learned that many of them were unaware of the funding situation.

"They looked completely befuddled," she said.