On the recordOctober 21, 2015
I thank my good friend from Florida for yielding and for his passion for our children. Mr. Speaker, the short answer to the gentleman who wants to know why would we want to take away vouchers from these children is that we don't want to take vouchers away from these children. We want those who are currently in the program to maintain their voucher until they graduate. But I should caution Members on both sides about voting for $100 million for a private school voucher program for a District that didn't ask for it while the Republican majority has pending a $2 billion cut for K-12 education for kids in their own districts. The irony is that, when Newt Gingrich was Speaker, he first proposed private school vouchers, but as conservative as he was, he worked with me on a home rule public charter school alternative. The D.C. Council had voted for charter schools, but there were only two or three fledgling schools and charters weren't going anywhere. Today, Mr. Speaker, there are 115 public charter schools in the District, and the reason is that, with my support, Speaker Gingrich placed H.R. 3019 in the 1995-1996 omnibus legislation establishing the D.C. public charter school board. Today almost half of D.C. students go to publicly accountable charter schools, and most of these schools have long waiting lists. That, my friend, is what choice looks like.…
