Former Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, applauded Democrats and Republicans Tuesday for working to extend Washington, D.C.’s school voucher program.
“I applaud Speaker Ryan, Chairman Jason Chaffetz, the mayor and others on the D.C. council to get this extended,” Boehner said at the American Federation for Children’s National Policy Summit. “Now trust me, this is going to get extended.” Without federal legislation, funding for the program expires on Sept. 30.
The program, formally known as the Opportunity Scholarship Program, gives scholarships to low-income students to use for tuition at the private school of their choice. The program was first implemented in 2003 when Boehner was chair of the House education committee. He called establishing the program “one of my proudest achievements.”
“The establishment of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program was an important moment in the drive for equal education in America,” Boehner said. “This really ought to be the new civil right in America: that every child gets a chance at a decent education.”
Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, and a majority of the Washington city council, mostly Democrats, support a House bill that would extend the program. They didn’t explicitly endorse the voucher program, but they support the bill because it gives equal funding amounts to the city’s public charter schools and traditional public schools.
Boehner was introduced Tuesday by former Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., who told the story of how the former speaker of the House saved the voucher program during the 2011 fiscal crisis. The budget deal seemed completed, until Boehner asked the Obama administration to reinstate funding for the voucher program. “The administration people said, ‘We’re talking about a budget that is now in the trillions, and you’re going to hold up the whole agreement for $60 million for this local program?'”
The Obama administration relented and the voucher program has never seen its funding expire since.
“In my 24 years in the United States Congress,” Lieberman said. “I cannot think of another occasion where I saw political power used for a more principled, moral and constructive purpose than John Boehner did that day.”
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
