Virtually any D.C. student would be able to attend private school on the taxpayer’s dime under legislation introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) — a proposal that would mark the most radical expansion of school choice in the nation.
Under the proposal, called the Educational Freedom Accounts Act, the District would be forced to give public money directly to parents who opt out of public schools. Like vouchers, the funds could be used at private schools. But they could also be used for other educational expenses, including home-schooling materials and private tutoring. Families would receive at least 90 percent of what the District allocates through its per-student funding formula, which was about $9,500 in 2015.
[From last year: Cruz wants to force D.C. to fund a school voucher program it doesn’t want]
Cruz and Meadows introduced similar bills last year, but neither received a hearing, and the measures are unlikely to pass this year, according to Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s non-voting representative. When Cruz introduced his measure last year, he called school choice “the civil rights issue of our era.
