USCCB Action Alert: D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program

Senators Joseph Lieberman (CT), Susan Collins (ME), Dianne Feinstein (CA), Robert Byrd (WV), George Voinovich (OH), and John Ensign (NV) are working hard to get the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program reauthorized.   The USCCB is very grateful for their efforts to fund scholarships for students from low-income families to attend private schools in the District of Columbia.  Many of those schools are Catholic schools. 

Without the passage of additional legislation, this valuable program has a bleak future.  Under current legislation no new students can be offered scholarships, so the number of students who can be assisted would decline each year.

The message should be:

Please support the bi-partisan Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act so that the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program can continue to provide more educational opportunities for low-income children in the District of Columbia.  Do not force families to have students in separate schools because no new students can be added to the program.

You may find the best way to contact your Senator by using the website www.senate.gov

If your Senator is one of the co-sponsors listed above, please thank them for their support of this valuable program. A summary of the legislation is attached.

We appreciate your efforts on this legislation.