Secular Coalition for America thanks Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton for opposition to D.C. voucher program
On April 30, 2008, the House Subcommittee on Financial Services heard testimony from Washington, D.C. Mayor, Adrian Fenty, regarding the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, an experimental voucher program for D.C. students passed by Congress in 2004. The Secular Coalition for America thanks Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) for her continued opposition to this program, which channels taxpayer money to religious schools rather than providing secular, public education for the District's students. The letter sent to Del. Holmes Norton by the Secular Coalition for America is below. [Also see our position paper: Tuition vouchers for religious schools]
May 5, 2008
The Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Ms. Holmes Norton:
We wish to thank you for your continued opposition to tuition vouchers for religious schools, most recently in your comments at the Subcommittee on Financial Services hearing on April 30, 2008. We share your view that the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) should be disbanded and the $18 million allocated by the Bush administration for the extension of the program should go back into public schools.
In particular, we believe that this program forces taxpayers to pay for religious instruction. The results of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) study you solicited last year reached the same conclusion: the majority of schools OSP subsidizes are Catholic or Protestant.
Therefore, the only "choice" for most families using OSP vouchers is for their children to attend religious schools at the expense of American taxpayers. Further, since the vouchers generally cover the entire cost of tuition, there is no question that tax dollars are supporting the religious training components of these schools.
While the Secular Coalition for America takes no position on the use of vouchers for secular private education, we oppose voucher schemes and other revenue shifting measures (tax breaks, direct government subsidies, etc.) which pay for religious education.
We appreciate your leadership on this issue and your efforts to end funding for the Opportunity Scholarship Program.
Sincerely,
Lori Lipman Brown
Director, Secular Coalition for America