Coalition Statement

The National Coalition for Public Education

The National Coalition for Public Education (NCPE) opposes the diversion of public money to private schools through vouchers, and urges you to oppose the FY 2004 omnibus appropriations package. The omnibus appropriations bill includes an unwanted and unaccountable private school voucher program for the District of Columbia. Further, this bill fails to provide adequate funding for the successful implementation of public education programs outlined in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA).

Vouchers undermine accountability. Accountability is the cornerstone of education reforms authorized under the NCLB. To send public funds to schools over which the public may exercise no oversight is inconsistent, and violates the principles of NCLB.

Vouchers do not expand parents' educational "options." Private schools may decline to participate in a voucher program, and participating schools may limit enrollment, or even discriminate in their admissions policies. There is thus no guarantee that any student awarded a voucher would be admitted to the private school of his or her "choice."

Vouchers are NOT needed in the District of Columbia.
Programs to improve student achievement in the District have been implemented and are working. Test scores announced just last month indicate continued progress, particularly in transformation schools. Privately funded voucher programs, however, failed to have any significant impact on the academic achievement of African American students who used them to attend private schools in the District. Federal education policy should fund only programs that have been proven effective.

Vouchers are NOT wanted in the District of Columbia.
The majority of elected District officials, including Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, vigorously oppose publicly funded school voucher programs. The Council of the District of Columbia, the D.C. School Board, the D.C. Coalition for Accountable Public Schools, and both local parents groups - DC PTA and Parents United- oppose the congressional imposition of vouchers on the District. Additionally, a Zogby survey conducted in November 2002 found that more than three-quarters of District voters oppose private school vouchers. Members of the clergy in the District have also denounced vouchers. The Rev. Graylan Hagler of Plymouth Congregational Church of Christ, for example, warned that, "Vouchers could create a new form of 'separate but equal' by steering D.C.'s African-American students toward private schools that aren't held to the testing and other standards in the No Child Left Behind Act."

Vouchers threaten civil rights.
Private schools are exempt from many civil rights laws, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Accordingly, any voucher program could result in federally funded discrimination. Furthermore, where voucher funds may be used for sectarian educational purposes, a voucher program could require taxpayers to support instruction in religions that may be contrary to their own. In addition to compromising religious freedom, private school vouchers also threaten the autonomy of religious schools.

The undersigned organizations, including the AHA, urge you to oppose the FY 04 omnibus appropriations package because it includes the DC voucher program and fails to provide adequate funding for vital education programs.

Sincerely,

National PTA

1. U.S. General Accounting Office, School Vouchers Characteristics of Privately Funded Programs, GAO-02-752 (Washington, D.C.: September 10, 2002).

The National Coalition for Public Education is comprised of more than 50 education, civic, civil rights, and religious organizations devoted to the support of public schools. Founded in 1978, NCPE opposes the funneling of public money to private and religious schools through such mechanisms as tuition tax credits and vouchers.

Coalition Statements