I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 684
To provide scholarships for District of Columbia elementary and secondary 
students, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 11, 2003
Mr. FLAKE (for himself and Mr. LIPINSKI) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Government Reform 
A BILL 
To provide scholarships for District of Columbia elementary 
and secondary students, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE, FINDINGS, AND PRECEDENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘District of Columbia Student Opportunity Scholarship 
Act of 2003’’. 
(b) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
(1) Public education in the District of Columbia 
is in a crisis, as evidenced by the following:
(A) The District of Columbia schools have 
the lowest average of any school system in the 
Nation on the National Assessment of Edu-
cation Progress. 
(B) 72 percent of fourth graders in the 
District of Columbia tested below basic pro-
ficiency in reading on the National Assessment 
of Education Progress in 1998. 
(C) According to the District of Columbia’s 
own data, only 53 percent of District of Colum-
bia public school students in the 10th grade are 
reading at or above the basic level. 
(D) Only 28 percent of District of Colum-
bia public school students in the 10th grade 
test at or above the basic level in mathematics. 
(E) The National Education Goals Panel 
reported in 1996 that both students and teach-
ers in District of Columbia schools are sub-
jected to levels of violence that are twice the na-
tional average. 
(F) In 1999, nearly one in five District of 
Columbia high school students stated that, at 
some point in the preceding month, they felt too 
unsafe to go to school, while nearly one out of
every seven students admitted to bringing a 
weapon to school. 
(G) Many of the District of Columbia’s 
146 schools are in a state of terrible disrepair, 
including leaking roofs, bitterly cold classrooms, 
and numerous fire code violations. 
(2) Significant improvements in the education 
of educationally deprived children in the District of 
Columbia can be accomplished by—
(A) increasing educational opportunities 
for the children by expanding the range of edu-
cational choices that best meet the needs of the 
children; 
(B) fostering diversity and competition 
among school programs for the children; 
(C) providing the families of the children 
more of the educational choices already avail-
able to affluent families; and 
(D) enhancing the overall quality of edu-
cation in the District of Columbia by increasing 
parental involvement in the direction of the 
education of the children. 
(3) The 475 private schools in the District of 
Columbia and the surrounding area offer a safer and
more stable learning environment than many of the 
public schools. 
(4) Costs are often much lower in private 
schools than corresponding costs in public schools. 
(5) Not all children are alike and therefore 
there is no one school or program that fits the needs 
of all children. 
(6) The formation of sound values and moral 
character is crucial to helping young people escape 
from lives of poverty, family breakup, drug abuse, 
crime, and school failure. 
(7) In addition to offering knowledge and skills, 
education should contribute positively to the forma-
tion of the internal norms and values which are vital 
to a child’s success in life and to the well-being of 
society. 
(8) Schools should help to provide young people 
with a sound moral foundation which is consistent 
with the values of their parents. To find such a 
school, parents need a full range of choices to deter-
mine where their children can best be educated. 
(c) PRECEDENTS.—The United States Supreme 
Court has determined that programs giving parents choice 
and increased input in their children’s education, includ-
ing the choice of a religious education, do not violate the
Constitution. The Supreme Court has held that as long 
as the beneficiary decides where education funds will be 
spent on such individual’s behalf, public funds can be used 
for education in a religious institution because the public 
entity has neither advanced nor hindered a particular reli-
gion, or religion in general, and therefore has not violated 
the establishment clause of the first amendment to the 
Constitution. Supreme Court precedents include the fol-
lowing: 
(1) Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972), 
Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925), 
and Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 (1923), which 
held that parents have the primary role in and are 
the primary decision makers in all areas regarding 
the education and upbringing of their children. 
(2) Mueller v. Allen, 463 U.S. 388 (1983), 
which declared a Minnesota tax deduction program 
that provided State income tax benefits for edu-
cational expenditures by parents, including tuition in 
religiously affiliated schools, does not violate the 
Constitution.
(3) Witters v. Department of Services for the 
Blind, 474 U.S. 481 (1986), in which the Supreme 
Court ruled unanimously that public funds for the
(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be es-
tablished a private, nonprofit corporation, to be 
known as the ‘‘District of Columbia Scholarship 
Corporation’’, which is neither an agency nor estab-
lishment of the United States Government or the 
District of Columbia Government. 
(2) DUTIES.—The Corporation shall have the 
responsibility and authority to administer, publicize, 
and evaluate the scholarship program in accordance 
with this Act, and to determine student and school 
eligibility for participation in such program. 
(3) CONSULTATION.—The Corporation shall ex-
ercise its authority—
(A) in a manner consistent with maxi-
mizing educational opportunities for the max-
imum number of interested families; and 
(B) in consultation with the District of Co-
lumbia Board of Education or entity exercising 
administrative jurisdiction over the District of 
Columbia Public Schools, the Superintendent of 
the District of Columbia Public Schools, and 
other school scholarship programs in the Dis-
trict of Columbia. 
(4) APPLICATION
OF
PROVISIONS.—The Cor-
poration shall be subject to the provisions of this
Act, and, to the extent consistent with this Act, to 
the District of Columbia Nonprofit Corporation Act 
(sec. 29–301.01 et seq., D.C. Official Code). 
(5) RESIDENCE.—The Corporation shall have 
its place of business in the District of Columbia and 
shall be considered, for purposes of venue in civil ac-
tions, to be a resident of the District of Columbia. 
(6) FUND.—There is established in the Treas-
ury a fund that shall be known as the District of 
Columbia Scholarship Fund, to be administered by 
the Secretary of the Treasury. 
(7) DISBURSEMENT.—The Secretary of the 
Treasury shall make available and disburse to the 
Corporation, before October 15 of each fiscal year or 
not later than 15 days after the date of enactment 
of an Act making appropriations for the District of 
Columbia for such year, whichever occurs later, such 
funds as have been appropriated to the District of 
Columbia Scholarship Fund for the fiscal year in 
which such disbursement is made. 
(8) AVAILABILITY.—Funds authorized to be ap-
propriated under this Act shall remain available 
until expended. 
(9) USES.—Funds authorized to be appro-
priated under this Act shall be used by the Corpora-
tion in a prudent and financially responsible man-
ner, solely for scholarships, contracts, and adminis-
trative costs. 
(10) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to 
be appropriated to the District of Columbia 
Scholarship Fund—
(i) $7,000,000 for fiscal year 2004; 
(ii) $8,000,000 for fiscal year 2005; 
and 
(iii) $10,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2006 through 2008. 
(B) LIMITATION.—Not more than 7.5 per-
cent of the amount appropriated to carry out 
this Act for any fiscal year may be used by the 
Corporation for salaries and administrative 
costs. 
(b) ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT; BOARD OF 
DIRECTORS.—
(1) BOARD OF DIRECTORS; MEMBERSHIP.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The Corporation shall 
have a Board of Directors (hereinafter in this 
Act referred to as the ‘‘Board’’), comprised of
seven members, with six members of the Board 
appointed by the President not later than 30
days after receipt of nominations from the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives and 
the President pro tempore of the Senate.
(B) HOUSE NOMINATIONS.—The President 
shall appoint three of the members from a list 
of nine individuals nominated by the Speaker of 
the House of Representatives in consultation 
with the minority leader of the House of Rep-
resentatives. 
(C) SENATE
NOMINATIONS.—The Presi-
dent shall appoint three members from a list of 
nine individuals nominated by the President pro 
tempore of the Senate in consultation with the 
minority leader of the Senate. 
(D) DEADLINE.—The Speaker of the 
House of Representatives and Majority Leader 
of the Senate shall submit their nominations to 
the President not later than 30 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
(E) APPOINTEE BY MAYOR.—The Mayor 
of the District of Columbia shall appoint one 
member of the Board not later than 60 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(F) POSSIBLE INTERIM MEMBERS.—If the 
President does not appoint the six members of
the Board in the 30-day period described in 
subparagraph (A), then the Speaker of the 
House of Representatives and the President pro 
tempore of the Senate shall each appoint two 
members of the Board, and the minority leader 
of the House of Representatives and the minor-
ity leader of the Senate shall each appoint one 
member of the Board, from among the individ-
uals nominated under subparagraphs (A) and 
(B), as the case may be. The appointees under 
the preceding sentence together with the ap-
pointee of the Mayor of the District of Colum-
bia, shall serve as an interim Board with all the 
powers and other duties of the Board described 
in this Act, until the President makes the ap-
pointments as described in this subsection. 
(2) POWERS.—All powers of the Corporation 
shall vest in and be exercised under the authority of 
the Board. 
(3) ELECTIONS.—Members of the Board annu-
ally shall elect one of the members of the Board to 
be the Chairperson of the Board. 
(4) RESIDENCY.—All members appointed to the 
Board shall be residents of the District of Columbia