WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 23, 01 (CWNews.com) - President George W. Bush unveiled his first major legislative initiative on Tuesday, an education reform plan that includes provisions for tuition vouchers for parents.

    Bush's $47.6 billion proposal links federal aid to school performance, including yearly testing in math and reading for children in the third through eighth grades. Schools that improve would be rewarded, while failing schools would be encouraged to greater achievement through various measures.

    One such measure is a plan to allow poor students in failing schools to apply the federal aid their schools receive -- currently about $756 per year -- to tuition for private schools or a better-performing public schools.

    "Parents and children who have only bad options must eventually get good options if we're to succeed all across the country. There are differences of opinions about what those options should be," Bush said. "I'm going to take my opinion to the (Capitol) Hill and let folks debate it."

    Democrats rejected the idea because they said it would siphon money out of the public schools, making bad schools worse.

For other news stories, see

January 24, 2001
volume 12, no. 24
DAILY CATHOLIC News in the USA

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