Kingston Questions President's Double Standard On School Choice

Press Release

Kingston Questions President's Double Standard On School Choice

Congressman Jack Kingston (R/GA-1) today called on President Obama to explain why he intends to deny nearly 2,000 Washington, D.C. students the school choice enjoyed by the President during his academic career.

"It's always a challenge for a private school elitist to address public school children," Congressman Kingston said. "From his days at a private school in Hawaii until he graduated from Harvard Law, President Obama not once attended an American public school. Now that he's shown an interest in education, perhaps he'll specifically talk to the 1,800 kids whose school choice he's taken away. If it's good enough for them, why wasn't it good enough for him?"

In 2004, Congress passed with bipartisan support the D.C. School Choice Incentive Act which provides the District's low-income student with an opportunity to have more education choices. Thus far the Washington Opportunity Scholars Program (OSP) has served 3,002 students with 3,738 scholarships being awarded out of more than 7,700 applications.

Despite overwhelming demand and widespread community support, President Obama and congressional Democrats have sought to end the program through slowly removing funding and only allowing those currently in program to receive scholarships in the future.

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