"YES" on Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act (H.R. 10)
"YES" on Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act (H.R. 10)
On Wednesday, the House will vote to reauthorize the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act (H.R. 10). The bill would continue funding through Fiscal Year 2021 and allow eligible students in Washington, D.C. to enroll in a participating private school.
It is impossible to ignore the success of school choice in our nation's capital. In 2010, the Obama administration "found that students in the voucher program had a 91 percent graduation rate, compared to 70 percent in the control group." According to the report:
These results are important because high school graduation is strongly associated with a large number of important life outcomes such as lifetime earnings, longevity, avoiding prison and out-of-wedlock births, and marital stability. . . . In the area of education, how far you go is more important than how much you know, and D.C. students went farther with the assistance of a school voucher.
By one estimate, 98 percent of students participating in the program would have otherwise attended under performing public schools during the 2013 - 2014 school year. Virginia Walden Ford, the founder of D.C. Parents for School Choice, explained the importance of school choice cannot be overstated:
In each of the fights to bring school choice to the states and the District of Columbia," she notes, "there have been strong parent voices. We have seen many parents, for the first time, become partners of change, excited about how their children are learning and what lies ahead for them in obtaining the American dream of getting the quality education they deserve.
Heritage Action supports H.R. 10 and will include it as a key vote on our legislative scorecard.
"YES" on Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act (H.R. 10)