House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) today spoke on the House floor in support of H.R. 471, legislation renewing the bipartisan, successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which has helped thousands of disadvantaged students gain access to a quality education.  Boehner also submitted for the record letters from a parent and several students who hope the Obama Administration will work with Congress to ensure the program will continue.  Following are the full text of Speaker Boehner’s remarks, as prepared for delivery:

“Let me start out by thanking the members of the Oversight & Government Reform Committee for their work on this bill.  Thank you also to our 50 co-sponsors and all the members on both sides who are standing with us today.  I appreciate the efforts of our colleagues in the Senate … particularly Joe Lieberman … who are working on similar legislation. 

“Today, the House will have the opportunity to do something special for the future of our country.  I think just about every member would agree we have work to do when it comes to our education system.  Americans are concerned that their children won’t be able to have the same blessings they’ve had.  And if we want to protect the American Dream, there’s no substitute for a quality education. 

“My view’s always been, education reform starts with giving children in need a way out of our most underachieving public schools.  Of course, that doesn’t mean that we abandon those schools.  It means we take some of the pressure off of them while they work to turn themselves around.  So we came together here about seven years ago and said, let’s try something different.  Instead of just throwing money at the problem, let’s empower parents from lower-income families to choose the schools that are best for them.  We wouldn’t deny any school money that they’d already been receiving – we would just be injecting freedom and competition into a system caught up in the status quo.

“And we had a strong bipartisan coalition, including: Anthony Williams, who was the mayor here at the time, and Dick Armey, who for years led this fight in the House, paving the way for this program.  He and I started working together on school choice in the early 1990s when we served on the Education & Labor Committee.  We said, let’s give these kids in our capital city a real chance at success and a real shot at the American Dream that they don’t have.  What do we have to be afraid of?  Well, as it turned out, there was nothing to be afraid of.  Thousands of families have taken advantage of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program.  And there’s strong evidence that it’s both effective and cost-effective.

“Unfortunately, the education establishment in our country sees this Opportunity Scholarship Program as a threat.  In reality, this is an opportunity to raise the bar, because competition makes everybody better.  I think if you look beyond the talking points and focus on the facts, you’ll find that the D.C. program provides a model that can work well in other communities around our nation.

“Now, this issue is important to me – but I’ll tell you this:  this is not about me.  I’m proud to say I’ve supported the Opportunity Scholarship Program from the get-go, but I’m even more proud of the fact I had nothing to do with its success.  For that, we can thank the students and the parents who have become more than just the program’s beneficiaries – they are its greatest ambassadors.  In recent days, I’ve received letters from many of them asking  Congress to do the right thing, and I’ll be submitting some of those for the record.   

“You see, they know what it was like before.  They remember living just blocks from these great schools, but feeling miles away from them.  All they ask us to do is help ensure others get the same chance they’ve had.  That’s no controversial idea – it’s just the American way.  So if we’re serious about bipartisan education reform, we should start by saving this successful, bipartisan program that has helped so many underprivileged children get a quality education.  I urge the House to support and save this important program.”