A Republican plan to send hurricane aid to both public and private schools was defeated unexpectedly last week in the House education committee, after coming under attack as a voucher program in disguise.
Four Republicans sided with 22 Democrats on the House Education and the Workforce Committee on Oct. 27 to reject the plan to use 鈥渇amily education reimbursement accounts鈥� to funnel money to schools taking in students displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which hit the Gulf Coast in August and September. The vote was 26-21 against the bill.
After the vote, Rep. John A. Boehner, D-Ohio, the committee鈥檚 chairman and a sponsor of the bill, proposed an alternative plan in the hope of appeasing committee members. The new plan would allow regular public, public charter, and private schools to apply directly to the U.S. secretary of education to receive reimbursement for educating hurricane-displaced students. The committee did not act on the second plan last week.
Rep. Boehner鈥檚 original plan would have authorized giving parents education accounts amounting to $6,700 per student in most cases, and $8,200 for students in special education. The money in the accounts, which would have been authorized only for the current school year, would follow displaced students to the schools of their parents鈥� choice鈥攑ublic, charter, or private, including religious schools. Parents would register their children through a toll-free telephone number, be provided a personal-identification number, and then give that number to the school, which would use it to collect the federal payment.
But during a feisty discussion of the plan, Democrats on the education panel clearly considered it a form of tuition voucher鈥攁n idea that their party and public school groups generally oppose.
鈥淚f it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then I don鈥檛 know what else it could be except a duck,鈥� said Rep. Danny K. Davis, D-Ill. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what else this could be except a way to inject vouchers into the public arena.鈥�
Plan B
After the committee voted against Rep. Boehner鈥檚 plan, the chairman floated his backup plan of direct grants to schools from the Department of Education to cover the expenses of educating displaced children, using the same per-pupil cost estimates as his earlier proposal.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unfortunate that even in a time of national emergency, the education establishment refuses to consider new ideas to meet the needs of students, families, and individual schools affected by these unprecedented natural disasters,鈥� Mr. Boehner said in a statement.
Some Republicans had vigorously denied any ulterior motives in putting forward the original $2.5 billion plan, which also included authorization of $50 million for the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, saying the accounts would give private schools the opportunity to be repaid for taking in hurricane-displaced students and would end after one year.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no mechanism in place for federal dollars to get to private or parochial schools,鈥� Mr. Boehner said. 鈥淭he money would flow directly, at the parents鈥� decision, from the Department of Education to the private school.鈥�
Democrats had other concerns about the proposal, including what they viewed as a lack of accountability for how the money would be used in private schools, a new layer of bureaucracy, and opportunities for fraud.
But Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, noted that under the bill, a private company would be hired to monitor the disbursement of funds, and that the program would be closely scrutinized.
Rep. George Miller of California, the ranking Democrat on the education committee, called it cumbersome.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e depending on the parent calling in on a timely basis,鈥� he said, adding that 鈥渢he idea that the answer to this problem almost 90 days [after Hurricane Katrina] is 1-800-voucher, just doesn鈥檛 hold.鈥�
Some committee Republicans also objected to elements of Rep. Boehner鈥檚 bill. Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., expressed concern that the parental accounts were akin to vouchers, and would set a dangerous precedent.
鈥淚鈥檓 disturbed we couldn鈥檛 find some way to get money to children desperately in need of it other than through that program,鈥� said Ms. Biggert, who voted against the bill. The other GOP members who voted against the proposal were Reps. Bob Inglis of South Carolina, Todd R. Platts of Pennsylvania, and John R. 鈥淩andy鈥� Kuhl Jr. of New York.
No Consensus
Rep. Miller, along with Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., introduced a substitute proposal that would have authorized $4 billion for schools directly damaged by Hurricane Katrina, and it would have authorized $8,314 per student to districts taking in displaced students. The schools, including private schools, would have applied directly to the Education Department for payment. The plan was defeated on a 25-21 party-line vote.
Meanwhile, in the Senate, a bipartisan plan for hurricane-related aid to schools that supporters had hoped would easily sweep through last week stalled after being assailed by groups of various ideological stripes.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Michael B. Enzi, R-Wyo., the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and its ranking member, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., would authorize providing school districts taking in displaced students with quarterly installment payments, up to $6,000 per displaced student for the school year or as much as $7,500 for a student in special education. (鈥淓ducators Discover That Tracking Displaced Students is a Challenge,鈥� Oct. 26, 2005.)
But groups such as the Phoenix-based Alliance for School Choice, which supports public funding for private school tuition, objected to the bill鈥檚 restrictions on use of federal money to pay for religious instruction, while Ralph G. Neas, the president of the liberal group People for the American Way, in Washington, denounced the proposal as 鈥渢he largest private school voucher program in the nation鈥檚 history.鈥�
