Choice revokers

Politics | Democrats work to kill a school voucher program that has helped many of their own constituents | Emily Belz

Katie Falkenberg/The Washington Times

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The first and only federal school voucher program, one that serves 1,900 children, is about to die a quiet death at the hands of Congress, despite its enormous popularity.

Under spending legislation Congress just passed, the Washington, D.C., $14 million school voucher program will come to an end after the 2009-10 school year, unless both Congress and the District of Columbia's council reauthorize it. Democrats, the district's council, and the local teachers union have historically opposed the program, which Republicans passed in 2004 with the support of then-D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams. Now with a Democrat-controlled Congress and a president who opposes vouchers, the program is all but certain to end. Some Republicans, who have hoped that a successful program in D.C. could extend elsewhere, see the move as a power play by Democrats.