Democrats “disagree with the [program] for purely ideological reasons,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who has taken the lead on the bill since Boehner’s departure, said Friday. | AP Photo House protects Boehner legacy with passage of D.C. school voucher bill

House Republicans passed a bill Friday that extends the life of Washington D.C.’s school voucher program, sending a message to President Barack Obama that they aren’t standing down on the controversial school choice program anytime soon.

The voucher program, which was shepherded through its harried existence for years by departed House Speaker John Boehner, is set to expire at the end of the year. Democrats including Obama feel strongly that private school vouchers unnecessarily drain funds from public schools. But after Boehner’s departure, other House Republicans are stepping up to find a way to cajole the president into signing a bill he opposes. The bill passed by a vote of 224-181.


Democrats “disagree with the [program] for purely ideological reasons,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who has taken the lead on the bill since Boehner’s departure, said Friday. “Let’s work to improve public education in the district, but let’s not hold back current students while it happens.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan's office chastised the president for standing in the program's way in a blog post earlier this week. "Time and again, the president and his administration have sought to undermine or end this program altogether. They tried to avoid implementing the law. They tried to cut funding. They tried to cap enrollment. They tried everything. Despite all this, the program has succeeded across the board. So will the president stand in the way of these kids, or will he realize he was wrong and work with us to get this done?"

Several Democrats slammed the program, not only because they say vouchers divert funds from public schools, but because of the D.C. program's track record. It "fails to actually improve education for students in Washington D.C.," House Education and the Workforce Ranking Member Bobby Scott said.

The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program has provided vouchers to about 6,200 low-income students over the last 10 years, and the average household income of enrolled students is about $20,575. The program, which also gives some funds from Congress to D.C. public and charter schools in addition to providing for the vouchers, is tiny compared to most programs that lawmakers go to battle on — but it’s symbolic position as the federal government’s lone voucher program makes it an outsized point of contention, year after year.

Obama has repeatedly tried to defund the program in his annual budget, to no avail. Voucher supporters accuse the president of trying to throttle the vouchers through poor management and restricting funds.

When Democrats “say it’s only helping a handful of kids, it’s because they’ve artificially been dwindling the number of kids” receiving vouchers each year, said Matt Frendewey, a spokesman for the American Federation for Children.

The White House Office of Management and budget issued a statement this week saying it “continues to strongly oppose” the program.

Instead of using federal resources to support a handful of students in private schools, the federal government should focus its attention and available resources on improving the quality of public schools for all students," the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement.

But the White House stopped short of explicitly issuing a veto threat. And it’s unlikely that Obama will ever have to make a choice whether to veto the bill passed by the House on Friday.

In the past the D.C. school voucher program has been reauthorized as a small part of a bigger, must-pass piece of legislation — and this time will likely be no different. Last year, after passing a similar version of this bill in the House, proponents tried to insert it as a rider in a major spending bill passed at the end of the year. The mad-dash rush to get the voucher program reauthorized didn’t work, but this year supporters are starting early, trying to keep Boehner’s legacy alive.

And lawmakers heaped praise on the former House speaker, who put the voucher bill on the floor for the last time last fall just days before leaving Capitol Hill, on the House floor Friday.

“He championed this, it’s been successful, and I’m glad to carry the baton and make sure there’s school choice in Washington D.C.,” Chaffetz said Friday.