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The Administration supports House passage of H.R. 2616, but has concerns about
provisions in the bill that would extend, from three years to five years, the
period for which Federal assistance could be provided to individual charter
schools.
The Administration understands that the rule for consideration of H.R. 2616
provides that the text of H.R. 2746, the Helping Empower Low-income Parents
(HELP) Scholarships Amendments of 1997, be added to H.R. 2616 in the
engrossment of the bill. Under H.R. 2746, States and local school districts
could provide vouchers for basic instruction in private schools using funds
that are otherwise available for the supplementary costs of education reform
under Title VI of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. If
H.R. 2616 is amended to include this bill, the President's senior advisers
would recommend that the bill be vetoed. Federal funding of private school
vouchers is bad policy because it would divert needed attention and resources
from the Nation's public schools, which serve approximately 90 percent of
students in kindergarten through twelfth grade.
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