11. Department of Education · Minor · Needs Congress

Deregulate the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program

Not started

Printed page 347 11. Department of Education

“Congress should additionally deregulate the program by removing the requirement of private schools to administer the D.C. Public Schools assessment and allowing private schools to control their admissions processes.”

What has happened

Feb 4, 2025 Not started
One bill would do part of this. The SOAR Permanent Authorization Act would amend section 3008(h) of the SOAR Act so that the Institute of Education Sciences “may” administer assessments for evaluation purposes and so that any nationally norm-referenced test will do, and would loosen the accreditation condition on participating schools; it says nothing about admissions. It was referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and has not moved, and the FY2026 appropriation left the SOAR Act untouched.
- H.R. 954, SOAR Permanent Authorization Act — referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
  Primary Congress Feb 4, 2025
- Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (Public Law 119-75) — SOAR Act funded without amendment
  Primary Congress Feb 3, 2026

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

One negative search covered this ask and #869 and #871.

Action: repeal
Object: D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program testing and admissions requirements
ID: 870