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WASHINGTON-In a last-minute change to a spending bill, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill, imposed new requirements on private schools that have Washington, D.C., voucher recipients enrolled.

These schools now would be required to administer D.C. public school standardized tests to their voucher students. The private schools administer national standardized tests already, but not the D.C.-specific version, which is based on the district's public school curriculum. The D.C. tests, however, currently are going through a makeover because they do not meet the standards set by No Child Left Behind.

Durbin, himself the recipient of a private education, argues that the D.C. tests would demonstrate whether voucher participants are making better progress at private institutions than they would at public schools. The Department of Education has barred the entry of any new students into the program, so tracking the progress of students who have already been going to private schools for several years and taking separate standardized tests would be difficult.

Also, the bill requires the secretary of education to assess all private schools educating the scholarship recipients to ensure that their quality of education is better than the D.C. public schools.

"That's crazy. The secretary of education shouldn't be involved," said Kevin Chavous, a former D.C. councilman and supporter of the vouchers. "It's a way of eviscerating and killing the program."

The broader spending bill that includes the changes will likely pass in the Senate, but will still be a step away from becoming law because the House version of the bill didn't have Durbin's addition. The final version will be decided in a joint conference committee.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who served as George H.W. Bush's secretary of education and sent two of his children to private schools in Washington, called Durbin's additions "unwise."

In a rare display of support for the voucher program, a majority of the D.C. council members drafted a letter urging Congress to provide funds for the 200 new students who had been approved to enter the program beginning in August. As the law stands, those 200 will not be provided vouchers because Congress only is funding students already enrolled in the program.

"Sen. Durbin has consistently tried to put different wrinkles in the program that are unwarranted," said Chavous, who helped jumpstart the voucher program six years ago. "I would hope that the senator would back away and not micromanage."

Durbin said in the committee discussion that on other matters concerning Washington, like prohibiting funding of abortions, Republicans shouldn't play "mayor for a day."

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., opposed Durbin's changes on the grounds that they should be discussed when Congress decides whether to reauthorize the program. Sen. Diane Feinstein of California was another Democrat who joined Landrieu in opposition, but the motion to halt Durbin's changes received a tie vote-not enough to stop it.

Some involved with the program worry privately that the new provisions would scare away private schools from participating in the voucher program. These schools in many cases are already educating voucher students at a reduced tuition of $7,500 (D.C. public schools spend about $13,000 per student). And if Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is evaluating the private schools' success with voucher students, schools would be less likely to accept low-performing students.

The voucher program currently serves 1,700 students from low-income families in Washington, including some who attend the elite Sidwell Friends school with the Obama daughters. A recent Department of Education study of the program revealed that over the first three years of the program, math scores did not improve among the students but reading skills improved significantly.