CSE Urges YES Vote on the Davis School Choice Amendment to DC Approps

July 24, 2003

Dear Representative:

On behalf of the 280,000 members of Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), I urge you to vote YES on the Davis/Frelinghuysen/Boehner Amendment to the DC appropriations bill H.R. 2765, which will enact the program created by H.R. 2556, the “DC Parental Choice Incentive Act of 2003.”

The District’s public school system is failing. Despite spending $3,000 per pupil per year more than the national average, it still ranks among the worst performing systems in the country. The Davis/Frelinghuysen/Boehner amendment implements the “DC Parental Choice Incentive Act of 2003,” which the Government Reform Committee passed on July 10th. This amendment is the authorizing legislation for the ten million dollars in funding already included in H.R. 2765, and is not new spending

The D.C. School Choice plan will give scholarships of up to $7,500 to DC parents to send their child to a private grade or high school of their choice. The proposal is a broad-based, bipartisan solution to the DC education problem. It will give children from low-income families the chance to get out of the DC school system. The act does not take money away from the existing public school system, yet it will give parents more control over their children’s education. Furthermore, it will create competition for the DC school system, ending the public school monopoly and providing the children of DC a chance at a quality education.

CSE will count the vote on the Davis/Frelinghuysen/Boehner Amendment as a KEY VOTE to be reported to our members in your state. This KEY VOTE will be used to determine your eligibility for our Jefferson Award, to be presented at the conclusion of the 108th Congress. This award is provided to those legislators that espouse the CSE principles of limited government, lower taxes, and more freedom.

Sincerely,

Paul Beckner,

President and CEO