Sheila Jackson Lee: “As I begin my remarks, I know that the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia would understand my sense of pride in…”

“As I begin my remarks, I know that the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia would understand my sense of pride in acknowledging that, in my district, the Victory Early College High School, which is in the Acres Homes neighborhood and a part of the Aldine Independent School District, a public school, will be celebrating the National Blue Ribbon award ceremony this morning. I offer them congratulations and express my disappointment for not being there. Obviously, they have been recognized as one of two schools in Houston nationally to earn the distinction of a National Blue Ribbon School at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., for closing the achievement gap. May I remind my colleagues that that is a public school system. So I rise in opposition and join my colleague from the District of Columbia to oppose H.R. 4901, which would reauthorize the District of Columbia private school voucher program and the Opportunity Scholarship Program for 5 years. The OSP program came about in 2004. In 2011, Congress reauthorized the OSP through fiscal year 2016. Under the SOAR Act, D.C. households with incomes that do not exceed 185 percent of the poverty line may receive an annual maximum voucher payment per student of $8,000 for grades K-8 and $12,000 for grades 9-12. We all know that private schools are much more expensive than that.…”