Video Inside: “We don’t have the luxury of five years or ten years to turn around a system”

The man who will likely lead the Corbett Administration’s education policy expressed the urgency of educational reform Tuesday during remarks to the Senate Education Committee.

Ronald Tomalis, Gov. Tom Corbett’s nominee for the position of Secretary of Education, said the state cannot wait five or 10 years to fix the school system and stressed the impact of failing schools of students and parents forced to attend them.

“We are looking at a situation where too many times, too many children just don’t have the opportunity,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury of five years or ten years to turn around a system before that system is actually up and running for the services of that child.”

Secretary of Education-nominee Ronald Tomalis testifies before the Senate Education Committee Wednesday

Mr. Tomalis testified before the committee during a lengthy hearing on S.B. 1, which would create “opportunity scholarships” allowing students in public schools to apply their state-level per student funding towards tuition at a private school of their choice. The program would begin in the first year with only the poorest students in the state’s 144 “failing” schools and would expand until all students were eligible by the third year.

According to Mr. Piccola’s office, the bill will cost $50 million in the first year, expanding to $100 million in the second year. The cost of the bill in the third year and beyond has been estimated between $500 million and $1 billion.

The bill would also expand the state’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program, which allows businesses to receive a 70 percent tax credit for contributions to an existing opportunity scholarship program. The bill would expand the EITC cap from $75 million to $100 million.

Mr. Tomalis declined to comment on the cost of the legislation, deferring to Mr. Corbett, who will give his budget address in early March. Instead, he focused on the social and culture impacts of education reform, saying the world has changed and the traditional model of government-provided education must adjust.

“This factory model system of education has served us well, but this is no longer the world in which we live, or the education system which parents and students deserve,” said Mr. Tomalis. “Choice has been a fundamental aspect of nearly every aspect of these young parents’ lives.”

State Sen. Daylin Leach (D-Delaware) expressed concerns over the voucher program because it would cut money to the traditional public schools as some students exercised their choice and left for private or religious institutions.

“We’re creating a huge new entitlement, a government entitlement in time of a recession,” said Mr. Leach. “We’re taking money from the poorest schools and leaving those still there with even fewer resources to try and make their education a little bit better.”

Mr. Leach also said S.B. 1 would result in an “increased imbalance” between the richest and poorest districts in the state, a complaint offered by other opponents of the bill as well. Mr. Leach, who has two children in private schools, said he wanted every child in the commonwealth to have the opportunity to have a “quality public education.”

He also pointed to the improvements in education performance over the last decade, citing a report from the Center for Education Policy.

Mr. Tomalis said the argument about the loss of resources was misguided because there was little evidence of correlation between increasing school district spending and improving performance.

“Has there been a dollar-for-dollar increase? Has every single one of the academic increases been attributed to the dollars? I don’t think you can make that correlation,” said Mr. Tomalis.

Even so, Mr. Tomalis praised the administration of former Gov. Ed Rendell for its focus on increasing resources for education in the state, but doubted that money alone could fix the school districts which perpetually find themselves at the bottom of the state’s achievement list.

State-level education spending has increased by 26 percent over the last 10 years, while overall enrollment has decreased by 1 percent statewide, according to the state Department of Education.

Mr. Tomalis said the Corbett Administration intends to take a different approach and view education from the perspective of the students and their families.

“Should we as government officials go to that parent and say we know this is a troubled school, but we still think your child should go there?” asked Mr. Tomalis.

Mr. Tomalis’ confirmation hearing in the state Senate is tentatively set for March 7.