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Dc mayor now endorses vouchers { May 2 2003 }

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   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2864-2003May1.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2864-2003May1.html

Mayor Endorses Vouchers in D.C.
Norton Criticizes Statement as 'Selling Out' Home Rule

By Craig Timberg and Justin Blum
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, May 2, 2003; Page A01


Mayor Anthony A. Williams said for the first time yesterday that he supports private school vouchers as a way to both improve educational offerings for D.C. schoolchildren and to transform the lagging fortunes of the public school system.

He made his comments after weeks of discussion with Bush administration officials, who hope to turn Washington, an overwhelmingly Democratic city, into a laboratory for an initiative that has topped Republican agendas for many years.

Williams said he reconsidered his opposition to vouchers in recent weeks, concluding that the program favored by the White House could help 5,000 to 10,000 children get a better education in private or parochial schools. He also said such a program would help attract new residents.

"We're willing to try an experiment," Williams said in an interview. "We need to be putting together more good schools and shutting down bad schools, and to the extent we're doing this -- and I think this helps -- it's a good thing."

He also is seeking more federal funding for public and charter schools and has asked federal officials to take responsibility for $100 million of the city's burgeoning special education costs each year to ease the burden on the 67,500-student school system.

Williams said that the new funds, if approved, would not come in exchange for his support for vouchers, though in a statement issued by his office last night, he said, "Let me be very clear in saying that any federally funded program that provides scholarships for private schools must be balanced with direct assistance to DCPS and with additional funding for charter schools in the District."

Several critics, led by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), said the mayor's change of mind smacked of a deal. She accused him of "selling out" home rule.

Early this year, when federal education officials announced their hopes to offer school choice to D.C. schoolchildren, the mayor's spokesman, Tony Bullock, said Williams "does not support public funds for vouchers in private schools."

The mayor revealed his new thinking on vouchers during a Northwest Washington appearance celebrating charter schools with U.S. Education Secretary Roderick R. Paige. His remarks caught many city officials, including members of his administration, off guard, leading to confusion that his communications office was still seeking to quell with a formal statement nine hours later.

Yesterday's shift by Williams pleased congressional Republicans and Bush administration officials, who confirmed that discussions were underway with the city but declined to confirm details.

"Secretary Paige is pleased that Mayor Williams today expressed such strong support for the Bush administration's proposal to expand choice in the District of Columbia," said Dan Langan, a Paige spokesman.

Talk of vouchers for D.C. schoolchildren began in February, when the Bush administration announced it would seek to fund a $75 million pilot program to offer vouchers in seven or eight cities. The amount that would be available for children in Washington is uncertain.

Even supporters acknowledge it is unlikely that vouchers would cover the five-figure annual tuition bills of private schools in Washington, though subsidies could help defray those costs. The biggest beneficiaries may be those who want to attend Catholic schools, which typically have lower tuition.

There are 7,924 students in Catholic schools in the city, and about 1,200 additional slots are available in those schools, said Susan Gibbs, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Washington. The church favors voucher programs and expanded funding for the public schools.

"We're excited to improve all the schools across the board," Gibbs said. "Anything we can do to help education, that's great."

The mayor's comments prompted a furious reaction from Norton, who was incensed at what she called an affront to home rule and an effort to go behind her back by negotiating directly with federal officials. She said she called the mayor into her office and demanded an explanation last week when she heard rumors of a deal in the works trading voucher support for new funding.

"He has not been candid with me, and he hasn't been candid with other elected officials," Norton said. "I'm telling you as a member of Congress, we can get that [new funding] without selling out."

Her comments were echoed by activists, D.C. Council member Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4) and three school board members who attended an anti-voucher news conference at Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter School in Southeast.

Iris Toyer, a former school board member and parent of a child in a D.C. public school, said the city already has enough choice because of a flourishing charter school movement. The charters, which operate independently of the school system but receive public funding, enroll more than 14,000 students.

"We have choice," Toyer said, "and it does not include vouchers."

At a rival rally in favor of vouchers, Tracey Tucker said she wanted to send her 7-year-old son, Nicholas, to a Catholic school but could not afford to without financial help.

"I'm really afraid that he would be one of the children who would be lost in the D.C. public school system," Tucker said. "I'm really afraid that Nicholas would fail."

Williams is the latest D.C. official to shift his position on vouchers.

Board of Education President Peggy Cooper Cafritz abandoned her previous opposition to vouchers in March. In an op-ed piece in The Washington Post, she stated that some kind of program was certain to pass Congress and that the city should accept the money and ask for more for public and charter schools -- a position similar to the one Williams took yesterday.

Council member Kevin P. Chavous (D-Ward 7), chairman of the education committee, said he also was rethinking his opposition to vouchers, though he said he would do so only if a federal aid package was offered for the public schools.

"If we're going to get new dollars from the federal government, it's important that it benefit all kids," Chavous said.




© 2003 The Washington Post Company



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