Thursday, February 02, 2006
No Wonder There Is No Educational Competition In D.C.
Fascinating policy forum the other day over at The Cato Institute. A financial review of D.C.'s Opportunity Scholarship Program (supporters refuse to refer to school vouchers) by Susan Aud of the Friedman Foundation and Leon Michos of George Washington University demonstrates that the way the program is structured it is in the city's interest to have as many kids as possible attend private schools. For example, the first year after Congress approved the measure 1,000 students elected to take advantage of the scholarships. Keep in mind that the funds for the vouchers come from the federal government. So, at an average of $8,000 per child that DCPS is awarded per child, the city saved 8 million dollars in expenditures due to them exiting the public schools. DCPS also lost 8 million in revenue. But because my friend Kaleem Caire came up with the idea of bribing lawmakers to pass the voucher scheme by providing money for vouchers and both traditional and charter schools (called the 3 sector approach), DCPS gets a grant of 15 million each year. Therefore it is a net gain of 7 million dollars for DCPS.
Even this year with the program filled at $1,700 students, DCPS loses $13,600,000 dollars. The federal grant still provides a net gain to the school system.
I pointed out during the question and answer period that a analysis that our school has performed showed that at a voucher amount of $7,500 in insufficient to provide an incentive for new schools to open. Therefore, this fact combined with the results of this study, reveal that the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program has some definite financial shortcomings.
You can watch a video of the event here.
PermaLink | 5:39 AM |
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Even this year with the program filled at $1,700 students, DCPS loses $13,600,000 dollars. The federal grant still provides a net gain to the school system.
I pointed out during the question and answer period that a analysis that our school has performed showed that at a voucher amount of $7,500 in insufficient to provide an incentive for new schools to open. Therefore, this fact combined with the results of this study, reveal that the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program has some definite financial shortcomings.
You can watch a video of the event here.
PermaLink | 5:39 AM |
| 
