Williams-Piccola plan is Senate Bill 1

A bold school voucher plan for poor families in failing school districts is being proposed as Senate Bill 1 by state Sens. Jeffrey Piccola (R-Dauphin) and Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia).

Under the proposal, parents of children under a poverty line cutoff ($28,665 or less for a family of four) would be able to take the state share of money spent on the student in their current district and use it at the private, religious or other public school of their choice.

In the Harrisburg School District, for example, that would amount to about $9,000 per student per year. The money would go directly to the parents.

The initial three years of the plan would see eligibility expand initially from the state’s most ineffective school districts in the first year to all 501 districts in the third year. The income restrictions on eligibility would remain in place.

“Taxpayers can no longer subsidize, support or ignore failure. Too many children are trapped by their zip code in schools that are not making the grade. We are robbing our kids of a fundamental right,” said Mr. Williams.

The senators claim bipartisan support for the measure in the state Senate.

Strong opposition is expected from the state teacher unions and the State School Boards Association.

“Before we start funding a new government program that would be very expensive, we need to take a hard look at what can make a difference in terms of improving education,” said Wythe Keever, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), the state’s largest teacher union.

The measure may also face constitutional challenges for limiting public educational benefits to certain school districts and certain income levels.

Mr. Piccola and Mr. Williams also want to increase state funding for the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) from $75 million to $100 million annually. The EITC allows businesses to take tax credits for contributions to scholarship funds which aid families in affording private school tuitions for their children.

Otto Banks, executive director of the REACH Alliance, a grassroots coalition in favor of school choice, applauded the push to expand the EITC.

“A fully-funded EITC program, coupled with opportunity scholarships, as seen in Senate Bill 1, will help provide more parents the opportunity to choose the best educational path for their children, regardless of where they live,” said Mr. Banks.

Efforts at school choice proposals in the past have been stymied in the General Assembly.

Mr. Piccola, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said, “We…know that we have a group of schools that have been persistently failing, unsafe and falling short in meeting the needs of our kids and families who cannot afford to move to a better school district. Our plan targets these schools and those students who are trapped.”

Attorney General Tom Corbett, who will be sworn in as governor on Jan. 18, has said he is a proponent of school choice. He could not be reached for comment on the Piccola-Williams plan.