On the recordMarch 9, 2010
this amendment that I rise to offer has been cosponsored by a bipartisan group, I am pleased to say: Senators Collins of Maine, Byrd of West Virginia, Feinstein of California, Voinovich of Ohio, and Ensign of Nevada. The purpose of this amendment is to reauthorize--literally, to save-- the Opportunity Scholarship Program or OSP. Some know it as the DC school voucher program. We are offering our amendment to this legislation because without prompt action by Congress, the OSP, I am afraid, will end. The current administrator has advised Secretary Duncan that it will no longer administer the program absent a reauthorization, and no other entity has expressed the willingness to take over, given the constraints imposed by Congress under the prevailing set of circumstances. Despite the President's stated intent in his budget to continue the program, if only for those students currently participating, even that will become impossible. This amendment, as I will explain in a moment, will reauthorize this program for 5 years at essentially its current levels. As I will explain in a moment, it is working, and it is immensely popular with families of children and failing schools in the District of Columbia. It is supported by the chancellor of the school system, Michelle Rhee, and by Mayor Fenty. It is warmly endorsed by the families of the students who have benefited from this program as it literally changed their lives.
