“It is kind of hard to believe,” said U.S. Rep Warren Davidson, R-West Chester, who represents Springfield. “Seriously, our government is going to throw something out because of a formatting error?”
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He said his team got right to work and made contact with the U.S. Department of Education. It should have been obvious that Wittenberg’s program should be put back into the running, Davidson said, but attorneys and employees at the education department weren’t easily swayed.
He then got a few dozen elected officials to send a letter to the department but the future of the Wittenberg program remained in question. He said finally the team was able to make some progress after finding out the education department had $20 million left over from the previous year.
“We were able to hone in and talk to the right people in the education department,” he said.
Wittenberg’s money has been restored. Now Davidson said he wants to find a solution to make sure no other school has to go through this.
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“We drafted the legislation already, we got co-sponsors in the House and Senate,” he said. “This is going to be a solution so we don’t have to hope it is done the right time moving forward. It will be done on the basis of merit and not on the basis of formatting.”
Students in the program were happy to learn that money would be available for it this year. Springfield High School student Deja Eskler said she has benefited from the program over the past three years.
“This program means a lot,” she said. “I’ve gotten more intelligent, I’ve made a lot of friends. It gives me an avenue to discover what is out there in the world. We go on a lot of trips out of state.”
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She said getting the money back will help students like her in the future.
“I am glad to have it back,” she said. “I think it’s a big deal. It’s time to celebrate.”
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