On the recordMarch 5, 2021
I oppose this amendment. It would strike two important improvements we made to the program that funds private schools. First, Republicans are critiquing this bill for not being targeted enough, but this amendment would remove the requirement to target funding to private schools that serve significant percentages of low- income students. The American Rescue Plan provides an additional $2.75 billion for services to private schools. And the bottom line is, Federal funds shouldn't be spent at expensive private schools. Instead, they should be targeted to low-income students at private schools like all our other education investments. The pandemic is disproportionately harming students of color and those from families with low incomes. While these students are already much more likely to attend public schools, we need to make sure that those who do attend private schools are prioritized as well. Secondly, this amendment strikes the limitation we placed on the funds being used for reimbursements at private schools. Reimbursements that were permitted with the first round of funding for this program were in order to cover past expenses incurred by private schools. Those expenses should be reimbursed by that first round. These additional funds are intended to provide services for private schools in the future. I ask my colleagues to oppose this amendment.
