Contact:

Ben Voelkel (Johnson)

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), along with Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.), on Thursday reintroduced legislation during National School Choice week to permanently authorize the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act. The SOAR Act ensures that low-income students and their families in the District of Columbia have continued choice and increased opportunity for their education through the Opportunity Scholarship Program (OPS).

The senator had this to say about the bill:

“The Opportunity Scholarship Program has helped thousands of students from low-income households attain a graduation rate 21 percentage points higher than comparable students. The fact that twice as many children apply for the program as can be accommodated demonstrates its success and support throughout the community. I sincerely hope my colleagues will join our bipartisan group in supporting a program that allows families the opportunity to pursue a high-quality education for their children.”

Background:

• The bill permanently authorizes Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act funding for District of Columbia public schools, public charter schools, and Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) schools.

• It also updates accreditation language from the previous list of accreditors noted in the School Reform Act of 1995 and replaces it with the Student and Visitor Exchange English Language Program list — a list that is administered by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and is more current, consistently monitored, and federally approved to ensure accreditors for the federally funded District of Columbia OSP remain current and well vetted.

Bill text can be found here.

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