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September 24, 2003
Union
of Orthodox Jewish Congregations Calls
on
U.S. Senate to
Give
D.C.
Parents & Kids
School Choice
Today, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of
America called upon members of the U.S. Senate to bring the DC Student
Opportunity Scholarship Act Of 2003 to the Senate floor for a final vote
and to resist opposition efforts to filibuster.
This act would create a pilot program – initiated by President Bush and
endorsed by Democratic leaders of D.C., Mayor Williams, City Councilman
Chavous and School Board President Cafritz – which would provide millions
of dollars in new funding for K-12 education in the District, a portion of
which would be disbursed to low income families for tuition scholarships.
The program is designed to empower parents by awarding scholarships of up
to $7500 to those who qualify and desire to remove their child from a
failing school.
Nathan Diament, the Union’s director of public policy issued the following
statement:
The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations has long
been a supporter of school choice initiatives for they are in keeping
with the fundamental Jewish teaching that parents are primarily
responsible for the education of their children. We applaud the
leadership of President Bush who is clearly determined to improve the
educational opportunities for all America’s children and we applaud
Mayor Williams and other D.C. officials for their courageous leadership
on this issue as well.
Proponents of the D.C. school choice proposal recognize that policy
decisions in the education arena must be made on the basis of the best
interests of schoolchildren. We call upon members of the Senate to
endorse this principle and support the proposal.
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