{
  "id": "R45581",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R45581",
  "active": true,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 593320,
      "date": "2019-03-07",
      "retrieved": "2019-12-20T19:47:45.005836",
      "title": "District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program (DC OSP): Overview, Implementation, and Issues",
      "summary": "The District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program (DC OSP) is the only federally funded voucher program for elementary and secondary education. It operates exclusively in the District of Columbia. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2004 (P.L. 108-199), which included the FY2004 District of Columbia Appropriations Act, also included the now-repealed DC School Choice Incentive Act of 2003. The DC School Choice Incentive Act initially authorized the DC OSP. Appropriations were authorized for FY2004 through FY2008. The DC OSP provides scholarships to eligible students to attend participating private elementary or secondary schools, and is administered by the U.S. Department of Education (ED).\nThe FY2004 appropriations act provided funding for the DC OSP for the first time and also, for the first time, provided funding for District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) for the improvement of public education, and funding for the District of Columbia State Education Office for public charter schools. Funding for DCPS and public charter schools was not addressed in the DC School Choice Incentive Act of 2003. However, for every year that Congress has provided funding for the DC OSP, it has also provided funding for the DC public schools and DC public charter schools. The provision of federal funds for the DC OSP, DC public schools, and public charter schools is commonly referred to as the \u201cthree-pronged approach\u201d to supporting elementary and secondary education in the District of Columbia. \nReauthorization\nThe DC OSP has been reauthorized twice. It was reauthorized by the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act (P.L. 112-10) in 2011, which also repealed the DC School Choice Incentive Act of 2003. The SOAR Act authorized appropriations from FY2012 through FY2016 for the DC OSP, DC public schools, and DC public charter schools. The DC OSP was subsequently reauthorized by the SOAR Reauthorization Act (P.L. 115-31), which amended the SOAR Act and extended the authorization of appropriations for the DC OSP, DC public schools, and DC public charter schools through FY2019. Changes to the DC OSP have also been made primarily through appropriations acts in the intervening fiscal years. For FY2019, $52.5 million was appropriated for the SOAR Act, with $17.5 million each provided to the DC OSP, DCPS, and the DC State Education Office.\nParticipation\nBased on data available from Serving Our Children, the current local DC OSP administrator, since the program\u2019s inception in the 2004-2005 school year, over 21,057 applications have been submitted, and over 8,400 scholarships have been awarded. For the 2017-2018 school year, over 3,900 applications for scholarships were received from new applicants and returning students. Over 1,650 students received and used a scholarship at 44 of 48 participating private schools that school year. While the value of the scholarship has changed over time, for the 2018-2019 school year students may receive up to $8,857 to attend a participating private elementary or middle school and up to $13,287 to attend a participating private high school. \nEvaluation\nThe DC OSP has been evaluated by two federal agencies: the Department of Education (ED) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The evaluations conducted by these two agencies differed considerably in terms of purpose and scope. ED evaluated the participation of schools, parents, and students in the DC OSP, as well as the effectiveness of the program on student achievement and other outcome measures. GAO evaluated certain accountability mechanisms and whether they were operating as intended, such as the program\u2019s use of funds and general adherence to statutory requirements. GAO also evaluated how ED and the District of Columbia fulfilled their roles and responsibilities for the DC OSP. The impact evaluations conducted by ED found mixed results. These evaluations focused on four outcome measures: (1) reading and mathematics achievement, (2) parent and student satisfaction, (3) parent and student perceptions of school safety, and (4) parental involvement. The GAO evaluations revealed issues with the way the DC OSP was being administered by the first two local program administrators, as well as concerns about ED\u2019s oversight of the program.",
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      "typeId": "REPORTS",
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      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "IBCList",
          "id": 4810,
          "name": "Elementary & Secondary Education"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Appropriations",
    "Economic Policy",
    "Education Policy"
  ]
}