FINDINGS.

SEC. 302. FINDINGS. The Congress finds the following:(1) Parents are best equipped to make decisions for their children, including the educational setting that will best serve the interests and educational needs of their child.(2) For many parents in the District of Columbia, public school choice provided for under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 as well as under other public school choice programs, is inadequate due to capacity constraints. Available 118 STAT. 127 educational alternatives to the public schools are insufficient and more educational options are needed. In particular, funds are needed to assist low-income parents to exercise choice among enhanced public opportunities and private educational environments, whether religious or nonreligious. Therefore, in keeping with the spirit of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, school choice options, in addition to those already available to parents in the District of Columbia (such as magnet and charter schools and open enrollment schools) should be made available to those parents.(3) In the most recent mathematics assessment on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), administered in 2000, a lower percentage of 4th-grade students in the District of Columbia demonstrated proficiency than was the case for any State. Seventy-six percent of the District of Columbia fourth-graders scored at the “below basic” level and of the 8th-grade students in the District of Columbia, only 6 percent of the students tested at the proficient or advanced levels, and 77 percent were below basic. In the most recent NAEP reading assessment, in 1998, only 10 percent of the District of Columbia fourth-graders could read proficiently, while 72 percent were below basic. At the 8th-grade level, 12 percent were proficient or advanced and 56 percent were below basic.(4) A program enacted for the valid secular purpose of providing educational assistance to low-income children in a demonstrably failing public school system is constitutional under Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, 536 U.S. 639 (2002), if it is neutral with respect to religion and provides assistance to a broad class of citizens who direct government aid to religious and secular schools solely as a result of their genuine and independent private choices.(5) The Mayor of the District of Columbia, the Chairman of the Education Committee of the City Council of the District of Columbia, and the President of the District of Columbia Board of Education support this title.(6) This title provides additional money for the District of Columbia public schools and therefore money for scholarships is not being taken out of money that would otherwise go to the District of Columbia public schools.(7) This title creates a 5-year program tailored to the current needs and particular circumstances of low-income children in District of Columbia schools. This title does not establish parameters or requirements for other school choice programs.