PA SENATORS POISED TO VOTE BILLION $ BAILOUT FOR PENNSYLVANIA'S FINANCIALLY STRUGGLING PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS
Despite a brand new Madonna poll showing that over 60% of Pennsylvanians oppose vouchers, and despite reports showing that voucher recipients in Wisconsin and Ohio perform no better than their peers in traditional public schools, yesterday the Senate Appropriations Committee amended SB1 and sent it to the full Senate.
Remember the sales pitch for SB1 "to help poor kids escape failing schools"? Fuggedaboutit! Where SB1 was originally targeted to families making under $29,000 in failing schools or school districts, as amended SB1 would offer vouchers to families earning up to $67,000, even if they live in the top school districts in the state and even if their children have never set foot in a public school.
This new entitlement program to fund religious schools comes in the face of a $4 billion state budget deficit while we are cutting a billion dollars from public education.
While there were estimates that SB1 could cost a billion dollars with the $29K income cap, we have no idea how much it will cost taxpayers now that it is targeted at providing a parochial school education for Pennsylvania's middle class.
Schools receiving taxpayer dollars under SB1 would have virtually no academic performance requirements – no PSSA's, no AYP reporting, and no fiscal transparency requirements – no public budgets, no public audits, no sunshine laws, no right-to-know laws. No school code, no NCLB, no IDEA; no accountability - just tax dollars, free and clear, no strings attached.
Call or email your State Senator today and ask them to oppose SB1.
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Poll: Most Pennsylvanians oppose school vouchers
Nearly two-thirds of Pennsylvanians oppose creating a voucher system that would use tax dollars to pay private-school tuition, according to a public opinion poll released yesterday.
The poll, commissioned by a coalition of groups opposed to school vouchers, was conducted by Terry Madonna Opinion Research. Madonna is a political science professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster County.
Read more: Poll: Most Pennsylvanians oppose school vouchers - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_731779.html#ixzz1JIVVw4FF
Senate passage expected on school voucher bill
Low-income students would be eligible
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
By Laura Olson, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
HARRISBURG -- School voucher legislation is poised to pass the state Senate as early as today, following a lengthy committee debate Monday over amendments from the bill's opponents.
Poll shows Pennsylvanians favor accountability standards for school vouchers
Published: Monday, April 11, 2011, 12:00 PM
By
On what could be the eve of a possible school voucher vote in the state Senate, a poll shows three out of four Pennsylvanians surveyed favor certain accountability for money spent on taxpayer-funded vouchers for parents to use to send their children to a private school.
Posted on Tue, Apr. 12, 2011
West Chester teachers agree to a wage freeze
By Dan Hardy, Inquirer Staff Writer
Teachers and other staff in the West Chester Area School District have agreed to a wage freeze next school year to help close a budget gap widened by proposed state budget cuts.
Posted on Sat, Apr. 9, 2011
Pa. Legislative Black Caucus holds hearings on Corbett budget
By Mohana Ravindranath, Inquirer Staff Writer
The Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus on Friday held the first of four statewide hearings on Gov. Corbett's proposed $1 billion cuts in the education budget.
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