At Second Markup of Already-Passed D.C. Voucher Bill, Norton Predicts Republicans Will Fund Bill Without Senate Action

Press Release

The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released an advance copy of her prepared opening statement ahead of a House Oversight and Government Committee (OGR) markup of a bill to reauthorize the District of Columbia private school voucher program today, Thursday, April 14, 2016, at 9:00 a.m., in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building. A second markup is unprecedented when the House has already passed virtually the same reauthorization.

In her opening statement, Norton asked why Republicans were not focused on the House-passed voucher reauthorization bill, which is currently stalled in the Senate, and noted there is little Republican or Democratic support for vouchers. She pointed out that during last year's reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, "both the House and Senate voted on several national voucher amendments, and each failed." Norton added that the Senate has never passed a stand-alone D.C. voucher bill.

Norton clarified the position of D.C. government officials on the voucher reauthorization bill, which she said Republicans, including Speaker Ryan, have mischaracterized. Norton said, "While Mayor Muriel Bowser and a bare majority (eight of the 13 members) of the Council recently sent a carefully crafted letter to Congress supporting passage of the SOAR Reauthorization Act, the letter did not support the voucher program itself. Instead, the letter supported passage of the SOAR Reauthorization Act because the bill also authorizes $40 million annually for public and charter schools."

Norton reassured her constituents that "even if the SOAR Reauthorization Act is not enacted this year, which I believe is highly unlikely with Republicans controlling the House and Senate, the Republican-led Appropriations committees have always funded the three sectors, and I fully expect them to continue to do so."

Norton's opening statement, as prepared for delivery, follows.

Statement of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Markup of H.R. 4901, SOAR Reauthorization Act

April 14, 2016

As a parent, I have no criticism of parents who seize any and every educational opportunity available to their children. I believe that current voucher students should remain covered by the program until they graduate high school. I have always supported the compromise offered by President Obama to allow current voucher students to remain in the program until high school graduation.

This markup may be unprecedented. Until today, I had never seen a committee mark up a bill that it and the full House had already passed. Because the House itself has acted, I do not know why we are here. Why didn't this committee follow through after holding a hearing at one of our Catholic high schools, a markup and passage on the House floor? Why isn't the focus on your own Republican-led Senate, where the bill has not moved? Last December, the Senate committee of jurisdiction canceled a scheduled markup of the bill to protect moderate Republicans from having to vote on amendments to give voucher students the protection of federal civil rights laws.

Perhaps we should not be surprised by the confusion surrounding this markup. There is little congressional support for vouchers. Congress has refused to create a national voucher program. Just last year, during reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, both the House and Senate voted on several national voucher amendments, and each failed. Moreover, Congress has never authorized the D.C. voucher program in the light of day. When Congress first created the program (in 2004) and then reauthorized it (in 2011), it did so by adding the voucher bills as riders to appropriations bills. Unlike the House, the Senate has never passed a stand-alone D.C. voucher bill. Neither chamber wants to face its own constituents to explain why federal funds should go to private schools.

This Congress alone, Republicans have introduced legislation to overturn D.C. laws on guns, reproductive health, non-discrimination, marijuana, labor, immigration and education. It is, therefore, ironic to hear Republicans favorably cite the support of some D.C government officials for passage of the SOAR Reauthorization Act. However, Republicans, including Speaker Ryan, have mischaracterized the position of D.C. government officials on the SOAR Reauthorization Act. While Mayor Muriel Bowser and a bare majority (eight of the 13 members) of the Council recently sent a carefully crafted letter to Congress supporting passage of the SOAR Reauthorization Act, the letter did not support the voucher program itself. Instead, the letter supported passage of the bill because it also would reauthorize $40 million annually for D.C. public and charter schools. These city officials recognize that Republicans have conditioned the reauthorization of the public and charter school funding on reauthorization of the voucher funding. Ironically, the D.C. public and charter school funding only exists because I repeatedly raised the issue that public and charter schools were the preferences of residents, and after the voucher program was created, the Archbishop of Washington, to his credit, insisted that D.C. receive extra public and charter school funding. The District government's concern about the possible loss of public and charter school funding is entirely understandable because this funding has been baked into its education budget for a decade. In addition, the letter made clear that their support for passage of the SOAR Reauthorization Act was further motivated by their fear that Congress instead could pass a new bill, the Educational Freedom Accounts Act, that would allow D.C. students to use local funds to attend private schools and not provide any federal funds to D.C.'s public and charter schools.

The D.C. voucher program has failed its central purpose: it has not improved academic achievement, as measured by math and reading test scores. The program is also unnecessary. I doubt that the district of any member of this committee has a more robust public school choice system than D.C.'s. Public school choice in D.C. is unusually robust, and is offered to every child. Our charter school system, which almost 50 percent of public school students attend, was recently rated as the healthiest in the country, and 75 percent of our public school students attend out-of-boundary schools that they have chosen.

I appreciate that the version of the SOAR Reauthorization Act we are considering today has stronger accreditation requirements, which I have spoken out for, than the bill this committee and the House passed last year. I remain very concerned, however, that the bill does not crack down on voucher mills, does not restore the rigorous evaluation of the program's effectiveness that has been required since the program's inception, and does not provide voucher students with the protections of federal civil rights laws.

I want to reassure my own constituents that, even if the SOAR Reauthorization Act is not enacted this year, which I believe is highly unlikely with Republicans controlling the House and Senate, the Republican-led Appropriations committees have always funded the three sectors, and I fully expect them to continue to do so. The SOAR Reauthorization Act simply authorizes funding; it does not appropriate funding. The funding for the three sectors is considered discretionary appropriations, and one-third of all discretionary appropriations are unauthorized. I continue to believe, however, that federal funding for education in the District should reinforce the hard work of our city, parents and residents, who have shown the nation how to build a fully accountable public school choice system.

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