House Panel Backs Funding for D.C. Voucher Program

The controversial private school voucher program for the District of Columbia would continue for another year without any change in funding under a budget plan approved by a key House panel yesterday, despite recent questions about the program’s future with Democrats now controlling both chambers of Congress.

The full House Appropriations Committee on June 25 approved by a voice vote a spending measure that includes $14.8 million for the school voucher plan in fiscal year 2009, the same level as in the current fiscal year. The program, which uses federal funds to pay private school tuition for about 1,900 low-income families in the nation’s capital, still awaits action in the full House and in the Senate, where its budget has not yet been taken up in committee.

The program was narrowly enacted in 2004 when Republicans held majorities in Congress, with most Democrats strongly opposed. It provides vouchers worth up...