The speakers at a Jan. 29 reception at the U.S. Capitol celebrating the 20th anniversary of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program included government and community leaders who played key roles in the program’s beginning in 2004 and in its reauthorization over the years, including John Boehner, the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; Anthony Williams, the former mayor of Washington, D.C.; and Virginia Walden Ford, who as the executive director of D.C. Parents for School Choice led local parents as they advocated for the program and gained support from D.C. officials and members of Congress.
Also speaking at the gathering were leaders who played prominent roles in supporting the scholarship program in recent years, including Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.); Betsy DeVos, the former U.S. Secretary of Education; and Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory.
And the guests at the anniversary reception at the Mike Mansfield Room in the U.S. Capitol also included Catholic school principals and current and past scholarship recipients who know firsthand the impact it has had on the lives of students and families in the nation’s capital.
As a student in the class of 2011 at Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, Ronald Holassie was a D.C. Opportunity Scholarship recipient and testified on behalf of the program to congressional committees.
After graduating from Archbishop Carroll, he earned a degree in communication arts from Florida International University, and he now works as an acting supervisory officer in the Department of Homeland Security in its U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.
In an interview before he was among the speakers at the anniversary reception, Holassie said his education at Archbishop Carroll, which was made possible by his D.C. Opportunity Scholarship, “really just opened my vision to what the world has to offer.”
He added, “You can break out of that generational cycle of poverty if you have access to opportunities that exist.”
Reflecting on what it means to him to now work in public service, Holassie said, “I’ve been able to serve on the front lines. It’s good to be able to give back to my country.”
The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, known as OSP, became the first federally funded school vouchers program when it was approved in legislation passed by Congress in 2004 and signed into law by President George W. Bush. The annual needs-based scholarships are awarded to eligible District children who can attend a participating private D.C. elementary, middle or high school of their parents’ choice.
Since the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program’s inception in 2004, nearly 12,000 students in the nation’s capital have been awarded OSP scholarships. In August 2024, Serving Our Children, the organization that administers the program, reported that the average annual income for families receiving the scholarships was $24,016. Seventy-eight percent of students receiving the scholarship were African American/Black, and 16 percent of scholarship recipients were Hispanic and/or Latino.
Kelly Branaman, the Secretary for Catholic Schools and Superintendent of Schools for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, was among the guests at the reception, and in an interview, she praised the scholarship program. “The nature of the name opportunity, that’s the essence of what this scholarship provides to families,” she said.
About 1,400 students are receiving the scholarships this school year in 37 participating schools in Washington, D.C. All 18 Catholic schools in the nation’s capital participate in the scholarship program, and about one-half of OSP families use their scholarships to attend one of those Catholic schools.
In interviews at the 20th anniversary reception for the Opportunity Scholarship Program, several D.C. Catholic school principals described how the scholarships have transformed the lives of students and families and enriched the participating school communities.
Sheila Martinez, the principal of Our Lady of Victory School in Washington, noted how one of the OSP recipients at her school went on to attend St. John’s College High School in the nation’s capital and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and is now serving in the military as a pilot.
“For that family, it (the OSP scholarship) was transformational,” she said.
The principal at Our Lady of Victory School – which in 2023 was recognized as a Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education – said, “All of my OSP students went to Catholic high school and went to college. For me, that’s the best outcome.”
Nicole Peltier-Lewis, the principal of Annunciation Catholic School in Washington, was among the speakers at the reception. In an interview, she noted how giving families the gift of an education that they are able to choose for their children “is truly transformative for the child, for their future, and for the families, and it adds to the tapestry of our schools.”
Chris Kelly, the principal of Blessed Sacrament School in Washington, in an interview also noted how the OSP scholarships make a lasting difference in the lives of students. “Every child who attends one of our schools has the opportunity to get a firmer foundation in academics that allows them to have a greater chance for success in their next educational venue,” he said.
That point was echoed in an interview by Michael Thomasian, the principal of St. Anthony Catholic School in Washington, who said, “We’ve had great success with OSP recipients who have grown, matured and succeeded at the school and have gone on to top high schools in the District of Columbia.”
The OSP scholarships “are really opening doors for them,” he said, noting how scholarship recipients who “go on to a top high school are almost guaranteed to go to a good college.” Those students, he said, not only demonstrate growth in academics and test scores, but also in their happiness at school.
Thomasian noted how one OSP scholarship recipient at St. Anthony Catholic School went on to be the valedictorian of her class at Archbishop Carroll High School and then attended Dartmouth College, an Ivy League university in New Hampshire.
Over the years, St. Anthony’s students have rallied in support of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program on Capitol Hill, and students and parents there have testified at congressional hearings and participated in write-in campaigns for the scholarships.
Another guest at the reception, Harold Thomas Jr. – the principal of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Academy in Washington – in an interview emphasized that, “The OSP program gives an opportunity to children that have few opportunities, especially in other areas of their life. It allows them to attend a Catholic school and get the kind of education every child deserves.”
Thomas said that “in Southeast Washington, OSP is a lifeline for school choice. All parents want the best for their children, and OSP gives them a way to put their children in the type of environment that will best meet their needs.”
At the reception, Sheryce Parrish, the assistant principal at St. Francis Xavier also praised the D.C. Opportunity Scholarships, saying, “As far as what it does for parents, it gives them peace of mind, knowing they can send their children to a Christian school, to help them develop Christian principles and values, but it also helps them (the scholarship recipients) develop morally overall.”
The guests at the anniversary gathering also included Aaron Marbury, a D.C. Opportunity Scholarship recipient who is a junior at Archbishop Carroll High School. He was joined there by his mother, Michelle Marbury, who noted that two of her three children are in the scholarship program. “It really has been a tremendous help for us,” she said.
Describing what the scholarship has meant to him, Aaron Marbury said, “I’ve been there (at Archbishop Carroll) all three years. It means a lot to me, because I’ve been able to get a Catholic education and play sports, and have a lot of academic opportunities.”
His favorite classes at Carroll include history and English, and he hopes to own a business some day. Reflecting on college, Marbury said, “I’ll take all my lessons I learned about my faith with me to college. That’s probably the biggest thing.”
Related story:
National and community leaders celebrate 20th anniversary of D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program
