We fail English? That’s unpossible. (Photo by philliefan99)

After initially cutting a D.C. school voucher program from his 2013 budget, President Barack Obama has agreed to restore funding for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, reports the Post:

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), the authors of legislation that reauthorized and expanded the Opportunity Scholarship Program, said they had reached an agreement with the White House to ensure that there would be no cap on enrollment in the program and that parents can apply to have their children stay in or join the program and get a response as soon as possible.

The federally funded program was created in 2004 by Congress, the first of its kind to provide federal dollars for low-income children to attend private schools. It functioned until 2009, providing some 1,600 students with $8,000 a year that could be used towards private school tuition. That year, Democrats threatened to cut funding, but Republicans later reinstated it.

In a statement, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.)—the two Republicans that most closely oversee D.C. from Capitol Hill—expressed their satisfaction with the news.

“Independent studies and reports from parents and students have validated the educational benefits the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program has provided to low-income D.C. students. We are pleased that the Obama Administration has apparently given up on its opposition to fully implementing this bipartisan initiative. Speaker Boehner, Senator Lieberman, and others who believe children should have a choice – including parent advocates for the program – have our thanks for their efforts to secure the continuation of this important educational initiative,” they said.

A 2010 Department of Education study of the program’s first years found no statistical difference in test scores between students that took the tuition and those that remained in public schools, but parents’ satisfaction, perception of school safety and graduation rates improved. Still, as one advocate pointed out last year, some 9,000 parents signed up for the 3,300 slots available in the first five years of the program.

The vouchers have always been something of a political football. Some local officials and national public school advocates have argued that it takes necessary funding away from public schools, while proponents, both locally and nationally, have said that it provides a vital alternative to poor families in a city with notoriously bad schools.

After Obama cut funding for the program earlier this year, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney criticized him for it.