Heavyweights Set Policies to Accept Scholarship Students at DC's Top Schools
Trustees at DC's top 10 elite private schools donated nearly $1 million to Democratic presidential candidates and the Democratic Party while setting school policies supporting the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, which Democratic leaders in Congress have halted.
These findings, released today in a 60-page book, "The Trustees," by The Center for Education Reform, helps debunk the frequently-propagated myth that Republicans support the program while Democrats oppose it. In fact, 93 percent of the donations that trustees at pro-OSP schools made were directed to Democratic presidential candidates and political parties.
Thirty seven percent of trustees at these 10 schools made political contributions over the past 17 years (representing the past five presidential election cycles). These trustees, who have all either publicly supported the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program - through their schools' policies of support - or remained personally silent on the issue, also contributed significant sums of money to President Barack Obama, who seeks to end the OSP:
• Trustees donated about $1 million to national Democrats (parties, presidential candidates, and party committees) and just over $75,000 to national Republicans.
• Of the school trustees that donated in the 2008 presidential election, about $140,000 was donated to Democrat Barack Obama, compared with $12,000 for Republican John McCain. Obama received 92 percent of all direct trustee contributions in the 2008 general election.
• Of the donors whose contribution records were readily available, 48 (or 54 percent) made donations to President Barack Obama, compared to 9 (or 10 percent) for Senator John McCain.
The Center for Education Reform called the study a "clear-cut myth debunker," saying that Members of Congress and national Democrats have long-ignored the strong support for the program among local Democrats, including Mayor Fenty, Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, the DC City Council, and now - major Democratic donors.
"We are frankly tired of hearing that the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program has no local support and has no Democratic support," said Jeanne Allen, the Center's president. "Not only are Democrats in DC helping to lead the fight to save the OSP, the highest-profile schools that participate in the OSP are run by some of the national Democratic Party's top powerbrokers and donors. We encourage Senator Dick Durbin, Representative Jose Serrano, and other Congressional leaders to look in the Democratic Party's donor rolodex to find people to testify in support of the OSP's effectiveness at future hearings."
The report provides school snapshots and donation information for each trustee.
Read an excerpt of "The Trustees."
Download a complete copy of "The Trustees."
For more on the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, see In Focus: School Choice DC
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The Center for Education Reform drives the creation of better educational opportunities for all children. CER changes laws, minds and cultures to allow good schools to flourish.
