Jason Chaffetz: “I would like to submit the following: Hon. Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader, U.S. Senate. Hon. Paul Ryan, Speaker, House…”

“I would like to submit the following: Hon. Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader, U.S. Senate. Hon. Paul Ryan, Speaker, House of Representatives. Hon. Harry Reid, Minority Leader, U.S. Senate. Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader, House of Representatives. Dear Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Reid, Speaker Ryan, and Minority Leader Pelosi: As Mayor and members of the Council of the District of Columbia, we support the three-sector federal funding approach for DC's K- 12 education system that is authorized in the Scholarships for Opportunities and Results (SOAR) ACT. Our support for the SOAR Act is rooted in the importance we place on the much- needed federal funding for DC Public Schools (DCPS) and public charter schools which totaled $30 million in FY2016. This funding is provided via our DC federal payments and does not take away from our state formula funding for education; rather, it adds to it. A reauthorization of the SOAR Act would help safeguard $150 million in federal funds for DCPS and public charter schools over five years. These funds are critical to the gains that the District's public education system has seen in recent years. In addition, we are very concerned about a bill that was recently introduced in Congress, the Educational Freedom Accounts Act (H.R. 4426/S.…”