Piccola: Nothing has changed since June
By Eric Boehm | PA Independent
HARRISBURG — The more things change, the more they stay the same, apparently.
Gov. Tom Corbett announced a series of education reform initiatives Tuesday in York aimed at improving traditional public and charter schools. The governor’s plan consists of a voucher program for students from low-income families in failing public schools, an expanded scholarship program, better accountability standards for charter schools and an overhaul of how state public school teachers are evaluated.
But key lawmakers in the state Senate, who have been pushing a school choice agenda since January, said the governor has done little to push the issue behind the scenes.
Asked if anything has changed on the school choice front since lawmakers and Corbett came close to a deal on a voucher bill in June, state Sen. Jeff Piccola, R-Dauphin, remarked on only one difference.
“It’s October now,” he said.
“You don’t pass bills with press conferences and rallies,” said Piccola, chairman of the Senate Education Committee. “All that is helpful, I don’t want to denigrate it, but the hard work of passing legislation has to be done soon and we are running out of time to do it.”
Corbett’s announcement Tuesday called for offering vouchers to students attending one of the state’s 144 “failing schools," where barely 50 percent of students are performing at grade level in state assessments. The students also must be from families of four making less than $29,000.
But neither the governor nor the state Secretary of Education could give specifics on how much state-level taxpayer funding would be redirected to pay for the voucher program. Voucher opponents say those redirected dollars cost school districts that lose students to private or charter schools.
The governor also called for an expansion of the Education Improvement Tax Credit, or EITC, program, which is funded by corporate contributions and allows students from families making less than $60,000 per year to receive a scholarship to attend a private or faith-based schools.
The 10-year-old program is capped at $75 million annually, and while Corbett wants to increase that amount, he did not say how much.
“It’s all vague coming out of the governor’s office, so it’s no different than what happened last spring and so why would one assume the results are going to be different?” asked state Sen. Andrew Dinniman, D-Chester, minority chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
“It is not possible for a legislature to reach undefined goals,” he added.
While the passage of any voucher plan would be historic, Corbett’s proposal is not as ambitious as the voucher proposal put forth by Piccola earlier this year. That plan began with the poorest students in failing schools, but would have expanded to include all low-income students in the state by the end of the fourth year.
Corbett has large GOP majorities in the state House and state Senate to work with, but Piccola said even that does not guarantee that the proposals will make it across the finish line, again pointing to what happened in the spring.
But, since the spring session, the level of support for the reform plan among House Republican leaders has changed. House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, stood beside the governor to support the plan Tuesday.
“What the governor is putting on the table are very, very tangible proposals that allow us to move Pennsylvania to the forefront,” Turzai said.
Piccola skipped the event, but later said his absence was not intended to spurn the governor.
Democrats generally oppose the voucher bills, because they redirect money from the state’s public schools, and leaders in the state House and Senate said they disagreed with Corbett’s new education plan.
“Proposed reform shouldn't take funds from public schools or pit public schools against private school for taxpayer resources,” said state Sen. Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia.
He acknowledged the need for educational reform, but said the plan must help all students, not certain students and some schools.
Corbett could find some allies among the rank and file, particularly members from Philadelphia. State Sen. Antony Williams, D-Philadelphia, said Tuesday he supported Corbett’s agenda. In the spring, state Rep. Tony Payton, D-Philadelphia, was a leading sponsor of a voucher bill in the state House.
Dinniman predicted lawmakers will focus on the charter school reforms proposed by Corbett because the governor’s plan for vouchers and the EITC lacks specifics necessary to drive the debate forward.
Corbett wants to see better academic and financial standards for the state’s system of charter schools and is pushing for the creation of a statewide commission that could authorize charter schools, a power granted only to local school districts.
Secretary of Education Ronald Tomalis said the extent of the commission’s authority was being discussed.
When it comes to the state’s failing schools, it seems everyone wants to do something, but no one can agree on what to do.
“We can’t allow another generation of students to go through these schools and not receive a good education. I think everyone agrees on that,” Dinniman said. “The governor basically has to walk to talk here and demonstrate that this is, to him, one of the most important and top priorities."
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