House Backs Vouchers for Private Schools in D.C.

By Robert C. Johnston

Washington

Needy students in the District of Columbia could get up to $3,000 in federally funded vouchers to help them attend private or parochial schools under a bill passed by the House and headed to the Senate last week.

But the compromise bill would require a scholarship board and the District of Columbia City Council to agree on how to divide a pot of $5 million between the "tuition scholarships" and $1,500 scholarships students could use for extracurricular remedial or enrichment programs. And many local officials are firmly opposed to...