Virginia Foxx: “I thank my colleague from Georgia for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to H.R. 3351. One of the many faults…”

“I thank my colleague from Georgia for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to H.R. 3351. One of the many faults of this legislation is language designed to eliminate educational options for low-income families in the District of Columbia. Mr. Chairman, every Member of this body wants all students to receive an excellent education. That is why Congress authorized the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program in 2004, which provided low-income students in the District of Columbia the chance to escape public schools that were not working for them and find a private school that would meet their educational needs. Congress has reauthorized this program twice, most recently in 2017. We know the program works. Just recently, a witness testifying before the Committee on Education and Labor described her son pursued private school options through the program in part because he was bullied in his public elementary school. He ultimately graduated from his private high school as salutatorian and is now attending the University of Maryland. This family's story is not uncommon. A Department of Education study on the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program found that students receiving scholarships were 21 percent more likely to graduate high school than their public school peers. An Urban Institute study of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program released earlier this year found similar results.…”