For families participating in the DC Opportunity Scholarship program, 2009 ended on a sad note with news that Congress and the Obama administration were approving legislation that would essentially threaten to phase-out the OSP slowly over time. Moving forward, no new students will be allowed to recieve scholarships. And, tragically, students who are currently receiving scholarships, may be forced to go back to public school (since some private schools are closing and there are questions about who will be administering the scholarship program as it unwinds).
Despite Congress and the Obama administration's shameful decision to end the scholarship program, DC families aren't giving up hope. They recognize that their children deserve better than the low-performing and all-too often dangerous DC public schools. They remain committed to making their voices heard and fighting for good educational opportunities for their chidlren.
While it remains to be seen how long it will take for Members of Congress and the Obama administration to come around and do the right thing, all of us who believe that DC kids deserve great educational opportunities can do our part. Make a donation to help provide a scholarship for a DC student. Any contribution can help make the difference in a child's life. Please use the donation button on this page to make a tax-deducatable donation to the DC chapter of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (a 501c3 ornanization). Your donation will be paired with others' donations and used to fund a scholarhsip for a low-income student who has been denied the chance to participate in the DC Opportunity Scholarship progarm.
It is great to see that other people are excited about this effort. The other day, Glenn Reynolds at his popular Instapundit blog posted about the need to start raising scholarships for DC kids. We hope Instapundit and others will help join DC BAEO's effort to SAVE DC KIDS.
If you want to be inspired about why we all need to be resolved to save DC kids in 2010, read Virginia Walden Ford's great op-ed from the Washington Times in December. As Virginia explains, saving as many kids as possible is what Harriet Tubman would have done.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Friday, December 18, 2009
The DC Opportunity Scholarship Program MUST CONTINUE!
The DC Opportunity Scholarship Program—the program that has helped 3,300 low-income, primarily African American and Latino students gain access to better schools works simply but wonderfully: it gives low-income parents the opportunity to send their children to some of the District’s finest private schools using federal scholarships.
As a result of this program and their own drive to succeed, wonderful children like Tiffany Dunston have been able to overcome once-insurmountable personal obstacles and do great things. Tiffany went from fighting to learn in a failing public school to—with the help of an Opportunity Scholarship—becoming the valedictorian at Archbishop Carroll High School. Now, she’s thriving at a great university. Killing the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program decreases the possibility that another child like Tiffany will truly rise to her own true potential.
President Obama’s continued silence on the issue is a betrayal, pure and simple.
It is not simply a betrayal of the D.C. voters who invested in President Obama’s campaign message with their votes—the same voters who overwhelmingly want the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program to continue for additional students. It is a betrayal of the president’s own personal narrative—one that he invokes frequently—of understanding the needs and hopes and dreams of low-income families. It is a betrayal of the person Barack Obama claims to have been—and was—before he became a politician. Surely, no community organizer with low-income roots could so callously dispose of the dreams of low-income children without first having betrayed or forgotten his own roots.
Yes, President Obama has let us down and fundamentally so. Luckily for him, he has the time and the opportunity to change that. He can meaningfully save the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program and allow additional students to enter the program. That would provide real hope—the kind people have long wanted from leaders in Washington.
As a result of this program and their own drive to succeed, wonderful children like Tiffany Dunston have been able to overcome once-insurmountable personal obstacles and do great things. Tiffany went from fighting to learn in a failing public school to—with the help of an Opportunity Scholarship—becoming the valedictorian at Archbishop Carroll High School. Now, she’s thriving at a great university. Killing the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program decreases the possibility that another child like Tiffany will truly rise to her own true potential.
President Obama’s continued silence on the issue is a betrayal, pure and simple.
It is not simply a betrayal of the D.C. voters who invested in President Obama’s campaign message with their votes—the same voters who overwhelmingly want the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program to continue for additional students. It is a betrayal of the president’s own personal narrative—one that he invokes frequently—of understanding the needs and hopes and dreams of low-income families. It is a betrayal of the person Barack Obama claims to have been—and was—before he became a politician. Surely, no community organizer with low-income roots could so callously dispose of the dreams of low-income children without first having betrayed or forgotten his own roots.
Yes, President Obama has let us down and fundamentally so. Luckily for him, he has the time and the opportunity to change that. He can meaningfully save the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program and allow additional students to enter the program. That would provide real hope—the kind people have long wanted from leaders in Washington.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Welcome to Save DC Kids
This blog was created by a group of school choice supporters in Washington, DC. Our mission is to raise money to help fund school choice scholarship for disadvantaged children in the nation’s capital.
Since 2004, thousands of children have benefitted from the chance to attend a school of their parents' choice thanks to the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. Sadly, politics is threatening that program’s future. So we have decided to step in and to try to help as many kids as we can until Congress and the Obama administration chose to do the right thing and save (and expand) the scholarship program.
So here is where we need your help! This holiday season, give children the most important gift —- hope for a brighter future by attending a safe and effective school of their parents’ choice -- by making a tax-deductible donation to the D.C. chapter of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (a 501c3 organization). Any amount you can afford to give will help us in our mission to save D.C. children.
In a few days, we will have an online donation button on the website to allow for credit card or PayPal donations. In the meantime, you can donate by sending a check to:
DC BAEO
P.O. Box 29219
Washington, DC 20017
Have any questions? Please feel free to call us at the office: 202-832-3895
Thank you for considering to help Save DC Kids!!!
Since 2004, thousands of children have benefitted from the chance to attend a school of their parents' choice thanks to the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. Sadly, politics is threatening that program’s future. So we have decided to step in and to try to help as many kids as we can until Congress and the Obama administration chose to do the right thing and save (and expand) the scholarship program.
So here is where we need your help! This holiday season, give children the most important gift —- hope for a brighter future by attending a safe and effective school of their parents’ choice -- by making a tax-deductible donation to the D.C. chapter of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (a 501c3 organization). Any amount you can afford to give will help us in our mission to save D.C. children.
In a few days, we will have an online donation button on the website to allow for credit card or PayPal donations. In the meantime, you can donate by sending a check to:
DC BAEO
P.O. Box 29219
Washington, DC 20017
Have any questions? Please feel free to call us at the office: 202-832-3895
Thank you for considering to help Save DC Kids!!!
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