Many Amendments Expected to Voucher Bill (PA)

March 30, 2011

The Senate Education Committee is expected to vote today on a hot button issue: publicly funded vouchers to send low-income children to nonpublic schools.

Before voting on the bill, the committee will consider about a dozen amendments aimed at adding accountability, shifting financial responsibility from school districts to the state, clarifying language and other items.

The first Senate bill introduced after Republicans took power in January, the bill calls for "Opportunity Scholarships" to low-income students from poorly performing public schools so they can switch to other public or private schools. The other schools do not have to accept them.

The scholarships would apply to students in more than 140 poorly performing schools the first year. In the second year, all low-income students living in the attendance area of a persistently lowest-achieving school would be eligible whether they attended that school or not.

In the third year, all low-income students would be eligible no matter where they went.

Sen. Andrew Dinniman, D-Chester and minority chair of the education committee, supports the bill as a way to offer more school choice. But he said expanding vouchers to all low-income students could cost as much as $1 billion.

Instead, he would like to see the Education Income Tax Credit Program — in which businesses get tax credits for donating to public and nonpublic education organizations — expanded from $100 million to $150 million.

State Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, who is against the bill and believes it will lead to higher local property taxes, has two amendments, one of which would prohibit discrimination against students with a disability and the other to notify taxpayers about the full cost of the program in each district.