Williams, Paige start working on vouchers

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Education Secretary Rod Paige and D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams formally began the country's first federally funded school-voucher program yesterday by signing a five-year agreement to implement the school-choice plan in the District.

The two leaders agreed to find an interim, community nonprofit group to start reaching out to D.C. parents with children in poorly performing public schools who might want private-school tuition vouchers this fall under the new $14 million program recently enacted by Congress.

The interim group would handle "time-sensitive matters, the delay of which would adversely affect the successful launching of the program for the 2004-2005 school year," Mr. Paige, a Republican, and Mr. Williams, a Democrat, said in a nine-page memorandum of understanding.

"Such activities may include outreach to parents, private schools and the larger D.C. community," says the memo.

A group called D.C. Parents for School Choice, a major backer of the D.C. voucher law passed by Congress on Jan. 22, has been conducting these activities in 13 public-housing projects in the city.

The voucher program is designed to provide an escape for poor children trapped in poorly performing schools. Qualified students can apply for private-school vouchers worth up to $7,500.

Education Department officials said they expect a notice to be published today in the Federal Register inviting applications from eligible D.C. nonprofits to run the program.

An administrative group will be selected through a competitive peer-review process to organize a lottery to choose school-voucher winners, officials said.

"Many parents and private schools are eager to avail themselves of this program," Tony Bullock, the mayor's spokesman, said yesterday. "Our job is to cut through the bureaucracy and get them together."