Washington Scholarship Fund

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 26, 2007
CONTACT: Ed Greenberger
(202) 466-7391

D.C. School Choice Program Again Sets Record for Enrolled K-12 Students

• Program Full, With More Than 1,900 Students Enrolled at Non-Public Schools for 2007-08 School Year
• More Than Four Students Apply for Each Available Space in First Four Years
• Program Giving Choice to Extremely Low-Income Families

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Bolstered by overwhelming demand for scholarships, the federally funded D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program has enrolled a record number of students at non-public schools for the fourth straight year and continues to serve low-income families in the District of Columbia.

The Washington Scholarship Fund (WSF) announced today that 1,903 students have enrolled for the 2007-08 school year at 54 participating non-public D.C. schools. This represents a 5.5 percent increase over the number of scholarship students who enrolled at participating schools through the program at the beginning of the 2006-07 school year.

The demand for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program is not surprising considering its great number of success stories, such as Assumption Catholic School seventh grader Maya Garland. Maya, a former public school student, received a scholarship before the 2004-05 school year. "At 12 years old, my daughter is at a crucial point in her life and her education, but thankfully her school is giving her what she needs to succeed," said Valerie Garland, Maya's mother. "Now she comes home every day proud of her grades, saying, 'Mommy, look what I got on my test! Look what I got on my paper!'"

" The increasing popularity of this program is a clear indication of how much these families need the opportunity to select the academic environment that best suits their children," said Joseph E. Robert, Jr., chairman of WSF's Board of Directors. "If you give parents a choice, they will seek out the schools that give their children the best chance of excelling, graduating and eventually furthering their educations in college."

The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program provides eligible, low-income children with up to $7,500 per year to pay for tuition, transportation and fees at participating non-public schools in the District. To be eligible to enter the program, a student must live in D.C. and have a household income of no more than 185% of the federal poverty line. The U.S. Department of Education, in partnership with the D.C. Mayor's Office, awarded WSF the grant to operate the program in March 2004.

For the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program's first four academic years, WSF received applications from more than 7,200 students for approximately 1,600 available spaces, a ratio of more than four to one. Additionally, if the program didn't exist, 83 percent of the students currently enrolled at participating schools through the program would be attending public schools that did not meet "adequate yearly progress" standards in 2006-07 as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The federal legislation that created the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program gives priority to students from underperforming schools.

The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program is part of a larger education reform initiative to raise the quality of education for all children at public schools, charter schools and non-public schools in the District of Columbia. This initiative includes additional money for public schools and charter schools in the District.

" The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program is an integral piece in our effort to improve and reform education for all D.C. students, whether they attend public, charter or private schools," said Maudine R. Cooper, president and CEO of The Greater Washington Urban League, which partners with WSF. "We are proud to support WSF and this visionary program, which offers low-income families the promise of a better education for their children."

D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program families have an average household income of $22,963, which is just slightly higher than the federal poverty line for a family of four and much lower than the program's income eligibility limit for incoming families (185% of the federal poverty line, or $38,203 for a family of four).

Sixty schools from across all eight wards have signed letters of agreement to participate in the program for 2007-08. To date, 54 of these schools have enrolled D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program students for 2007-08.

On October 22, WSF will begin accepting 2008-09 D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program applications from families with children who are currently attending a D.C. public school and will be entering kindergarten through seventh grade in 2008-09. There are currently more than 400 families on WSF's D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program waiting list. Families that are interested in applying should call 1-888-DC-YOUTH.

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About Us
The Washington Scholarship Fund, founded in February 1993, is committed to providing low-income Washington, D.C. families a choice in where they send their children to elementary, middle, and high school and to helping fulfill the promise of equal educational opportunity for all. During the past 14 years, WSF has provided nearly 31 million in scholarships to nearly 5,000 students through the federally funded D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program and the privately funded Signature Scholarship Program.