qD@vernment Reform Committee narrowly passed a bill yesterday to create a private school voucher program for Washington's public school students after a spirited debate over how to best reform the struggling school system in the nation's capital.

The committee approved the measure 22 to 21, splitting almost entirely along partisan lines with the exception of two Republicans who voted against the bill, which was sponsored by the committee chairman, Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.). A Democrat, Major R. Owens of New York, was out of town because of medical appointments. His vote, said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), a chief opponent of the voucher bill, would have created a tie and stalled the bill in committee.

"That's bad luck for us. But it does show you we have several shots," Norton said. "There's a lot of hypocrisy to put vouchers in the District when these members have school districts just like the District of Columbia in their states. . . . They ought to be voting for vouchers so that their low-performing school districts can be getting federal money, but they're not. Vouchers can't win nationally, so they shouldn't win locally."

Davis's bill would authorize the appropriation of $ 15 million annually for five years to fund vouchers of up to $ 7,500 for about 2,000 low-income children to attend private schools. D.C. public schools enroll about 67,500 students and the public charter schools about 11,600. An additional 14,000 students attend private schools at tuitions that range from $ 3,500 for parochial elementary schools to $ 20,000 for elite secondary schools.

About two dozen parents who attended the three-hour debate applauded the vote.

"I think it's wonderful, and I think it showed that those who voted for it care for children," said Virginia Walden-Ford, executive director of D.C. Parents for School Choice. "I'm very disappointed in the other side. I wish they'd listen to the parents we hear every day."

Several dozen opponents, members of the Coalition for Accountable Public Schools, also attended the meeting, wearing white lapel stickers with the slogan "Stop D.C. Vouchers."

"D.C. vouchers are not going to benefit the majority of D.C. public school students," said coalition member Tanya Clay, who is also deputy director of People for the American Way.

The voucher bill is supported by President Bush and U.S. Education Secretary Roderick R. Paige, who back using the District to implement the administration's $ 75 million school choice plan, which could be extended to other cities eventually.

The two Republicans on the committee who voted against the bill were John M. McHugh of New York and Todd R. Platts of Pennsylvania. Neither participated in the debate.

Davis said he would confer with the Republican leadership in Congress before deciding whether to submit the voucher bill to a House vote or whether to attach it to the appropriations bill that Congress will take up in September.

Either way, Davis said after the committee vote, "with the president pushing it, I suspect it will probably go through. But you know, you take it a step at a time. I think that the game plan is a good game plan to move it through."

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) has introduced a similar bill in the Senate, though it authorizes less money for the D.C. voucher program.

Under Davis's bill, the U.S. Education Department would administer the voucher program, but private entities could manage it.


Davis called the condition of the District's schools "unacceptable," citing low standardized test scores, poor academic achievement and a high dropout rate.


"One thing is clear: Too many kids in our nation's capital are not getting the education they need and fully deserve," he said. He added that he has traditionally opposed federal funding of private schools. "But for the District, I think we have to ask this question: Wouldn't more choices funded by federal dollars provide a needed alternative for low-income children attending low-performing schools?"

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), ranking minority member on the committee, said that diverting federal money to school vouchers would "drain much-needed resources from our public schools."

"Funding the bill that's before us today will use federal dollars that should be used to enhance District of Columbia public, charter and transformation schools," he said.

He also said that "imposing any educational system on the District raises home rule concerns."

Two efforts to amend the Davis bill were defeated on voice votes. An alternative proposed by Norton would have provided $ 12 million a year for transformation schools -- low-performing schools that are reorganized and given additional money to improve student achievement -- and $ 3 million annually to the city's charter schools. That plan, Norton said, "reflects the education values" of D.C. residents who have shown they support alternatives such as charter schools. Her plan, she said, "does not violate the often-stated principles of this Congress that local control must particularly be respected in the case of local schools."

An amendment by Rep. William L. Clay Jr. (D-Mo.), to require private schools that accept voucher students to adhere to the same federal accountability rules required of public schools, also was defeated. Davis's bill would require the private schools to report the activities and academic achievements of students in the voucher program to the U.S. Education Department each year.