Education Secretary Margaret Spellings devoted much of her July 8 op-ed, “Save D.C.’s Vouchers,” to the benefits afforded to children selected to participate in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program.
While I have little doubt about private schools’ educational advantages over District public schools, the unanswered question is what happens to the children left behind. In 2007-08, nearly three in four applicants were on waiting lists, and that was in a year when seven in eight eligible families did not even apply.
If the more than $14 million spent on tuition last year for the 1,900 students who were fortunate enough to be granted scholarships were instead invested in the District’s public schools, we might not have to confront this dilemma in the future. Perhaps the real opportunity scholarships, then, should not be the ones given to 1,900 students by the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program but rather those that could be given to 70,000 or more students by a complete commitment to improving the performance of the District’s public school system.
JOEL T. MEYER
Silver Spring
Source: Whasington Post
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Can you say how does one apply for a Gsat scholarship?