NEWS

Sen. Tim Scott part of push for broader school choice

Mary Troyan
Staff writer

WASHINGTON – Two Republican senators from Tennessee and South Carolina, buoyed by their party's new majority, are teaming up to expand school choice as part of a rewrite of federal education law.

An early draft of the K-12 education bill already would let lower-income students use $1,300 in federal money to switch schools, but Sen. Lamar Alexander and Sen. Tim Scott say they expect more and broader possibilities to also be on the table.

Giving parents more choice on where to send their kids to school — and using government money to facilitate such transfers — could be one of the most controversial elements of this year's attempt to rewrite the 2002 No Child Left Behind law.

Alexander, R-Tenn., and Scott, R-S.C., have worked together before to promote school choice, but this time Republicans control the Senate and Alexander is chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

"Compared to last year's conversation on choice, this is a far better year," said Scott. "I think we're in a far better position to see flexibility happen."

Alexander, the former education secretary leading the Senate effort to write a new K-12 law, cited Pell Grants and the G.I. Bill as successful examples of programs that allow students to use federal dollars to pay for the college of their choice.

"So why is it so hard to do it for (K-12) schools?" he said at a daylong forum about school choice on Capitol Hill organized by Scott.

Alexander's draft education bill includes a provision to allow $14.5 billion in Title I federal money to follow 11 million low-income children to whatever public school they choose. The voucher would be worth about $1,300 per student.

In a recent speech at the Brookings Institution, Alexander said Congress also should allow the Title I money to follow students from poorer families into private schools.

The idea of making federal aid for lower-income students portable is strongly opposed by those who believe it would hurt public education.

"Title I portability will take away resources from our poorest schools and districts and give them to more affluent ones, undermining the historic federal role of targeting aid to our neediest students," said Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, the top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told Alexander her organization opposes the idea because it undermines the purpose of Title I — to combat concentrations of poverty — and is the "first step" toward private school choice.

After a House committee passed an education bill Thursday that included the Title I portability provision, the White House on Friday announced its opposition to the idea, but stopped short of issuing a veto threat.

"This approach is backward and teachers and kids deserve much, much better," said Cecilia Muñoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council.

In South Carolina, the White House estimates that the Greenville County school system would lose about $2.5 million of the $22.1 million it currently receives in Title I funding.

Beyond the Title I portability idea, Alexander said he expects senators to offer several other choice-related amendments in committee or on the Senate floor.

For example, Scott has legislation to make federal money for special education students portable. It would give states the option of allowing about $11 billion in federal money to follow 6 million disabled students to whatever school their parents choose.

"Whether we win or not, we have to put pressure on everyone to look at this as a real alternative because these kids can't wait," Scott said.

Alexander said he'll also try to add what he calls his Scholarship for Kids bill, which would use $24 billion in federal K-12 money to let states create $2,100 scholarships for 11 million low-income children to use at any public or private school of their choice.

"And we'll see how the votes go," Alexander said.

RELATED: