How members of Congress practice private school choice

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Jan, 2008 by Evan Feinberg

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MANY MEMBERS of Congress value the opportunity to choose a safe and effective school for their own children, yet a number of these same members consistently oppose school choice legislation that would give the same opportunity to other families. For example, Senators Edward Kennedy (D.-Mass.) and Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.) have been outspoken opponents of school choice initiatives even though both have sent their children to private schools.

Since 2000, The Heritage Foundation has conducted several surveys of Congress to determine how many senators and representatives practice school choice by sending their offspring to private school. In 2007, some 45% of senators and 37% of representatives in the 110th Congress sent their kids to private schools--almost four times the rate of the general population.

Based on the survey results, if all of the members who exercised school choice for their own children had supported school choice in policy, every major legislative effort in recent years to give parents school choice would have passed. Congress should support policies that give all families the opportunity to choose the best school options for their children.

In 2007, The Heritage Foundation conducted a survey of members of Congress to determine the percentage that practice private school choice. It conducted similar surveys in 2000, 2001, and 2003, and the results show that private school choice continues to be an important option for elected leaders' families. The 2007 survey found that the percentage of members of the 110th Congress who practice private school choice is disproportionate to the general populace, since only 11.5% of American students attend private schools. Also of note, members of the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who represent populations who have fared poorly academically in public schools and who stand to benefit the most from educational options, showed particularly high rates of practicing school choice.

Other notable findings include:

* More than 23% of House Education and Labor Committee members and 33% of Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee members exercised private school choice.

* Exactly 52% of Congressional Black Caucus members and 38% of Congressional Hispanic Caucus members sent at least one child to private school.

Since 2001, Congress has considered multiple initiatives to expand parental choice in education. During the first congressional debate over No Child Left Behind, the House of Representatives voted down an amendment that would have given scholarships to students attending low-performing or dangerous public schools. During the Senate debate over NCLB, the Senate rejected a pilot program to provide scholarships to low-income students.

Based on the 2003 survey, each of these amendments would have passed if members who exercised school choice for their own children had voted in favor of the initiatives. Since the 2003 survey, Congress has taken a historic step to empower parents by creating the first Federal school voucher program for disadvantaged children in Washington, D.C.

In 2004, the House passed legislation to give low-income students in the District of Columbia who are trapped in low-performing public schools the opportunity to apply for a scholarship to attend a private school of choice. The D.C. Choice Incentive Act passed by just one vote (209-208) as part of H.R. 2765. The vote largely was along party lines: Only 15 Republicans voted against it, and a mere three Democrats voted for it. The Senate passed the measure by a vote of 65-28 as part of an omnibus spending bill (H.R. 2673). Opposition to the voucher program led some senators to oppose the overall spending bill, and Sen. Kennedy and other Democrats held an anti-voucher rally immediately after the vote. Vowing to repeal the voucher program, he proclaimed: "Even after this vote, don't bank on vouchers coming to D.C." However, opponents have not succeeded in repealing the program.

Vouchers in D.C.

Instead, the legislation created the first federally funded voucher program, now known as the Washington, D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. More than 1,800 students, with an average family income of $21,100, are using Opportunity Scholarships to attend 66 participating private schools in the nation's capital. Approximately 11% of eligible low-income students have applied for a scholarship. This program is an important step toward parental choice in education and, despite serving only a limited number of students, is a model for the rest of the country.

Researchers have produced two reports analyzing the program's effectiveness:

* The first, published in May 2007 by the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute, found that the "vast majority of families participating in this study are satisfied with the OSP [Opportunity Scholarship Program] in general, and their choice of new schools in particular." The report concludes that parents were more involved in their children's education and that their involvement increased the longer their child participated in the program. The report also found that participating parents had become active and engaged consumers of education, visiting an average of three schools before selecting one.