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My understanding is that for 28 days the Diocese's $2.9 million in state EITC scholarships (did I mention that there is no fiscal or academic performance accountability in the EITC program?) were part of the assistance threatened to be withheld from parents who did not actively lobby their legislators for the voucher bill.
So state funds were being used by a church to lobby the state legislature to obtain more state funds for that church. Maybe our Founding Fathers were on to something with that whole pesky, inconvenient "separation of church and state" thing.
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According to the article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "currently, the diocese receives tuition-assistance funding from two sources: the Scholastic Opportunity Scholarships fund and the Bishop's Education Fund. The SOS fund -- which distributed $2.9 million in grants to more than 3,800 students in the 2010-11 school year, comes from the Education Improvement Tax Credit, which allows businesses to provide scholarship money to private parochial schools in exchange for tax credits."
Washington Post : Diocese letter pushed principals to promote vouchers
Washington Post Answer Sheet Blog By Valerie Strauss
Just how involved did the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh get in the effort to promote vouchers? Very.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/diocese-letter-pushed-principals-to-promote-vouchers/2011/11/29/gIQAoLzJDO_blog.html
Voucher Mea
Culpa: Pa. Church
Americans United for Separation of
Church and State
The Catholic
hierarchy in Pennsylvania
SEPTEMBER 30, 2011
Saving Catholic Education
Over 50 years, the U.S. Catholic school population has dropped by almost two-thirds.
Wall Street Journal Opinion By RICHARD RIORDAN
Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Catholic Education Foundation announced a campaign to raise $100 million for Catholic schools in our area.
Mr. Riordan, who was mayor of Los Angeles from 1993 to 2001, is the founding president of the Los Angeles Catholic Education Foundation.
West Chester write-in VOTE member wins school board seat
By Anthony Campisi, Inquirer Staff Writer, December 1, 2011
A candidate who was part of an unprecedented write-in campaign in November won a seat on the West Chester Area school board, according to official results certified Wednesday.
Sue Tiernan, a retired educator and school administrator, won the last of five seats on the nine-member board that were up for election.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20111201_West_Chester_VOTE_member_wins_school_board_seat.html?ref=more-like-this
Report finds Chicago charters struggling like other CPS schools
Poverty dogs students despite schools' flexibility, autonomy
12:08 a.m. CST, November 30, 2011
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other city leaders have long heralded charter schools' innovative approach to education, but new research suggests many charters in Chicago are performing no better than traditional neighborhood schools and some are actually doing much worse.
In Upper St. Clair, perhaps an innovative "outside the box" solution to state education funding cuts
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