Senate passes voucher legislation; Senate Bill 1

By Ali Carey, Contributing Writer, PoliticsPA

By a (relatively) narrow 27-22 vote, the state Senate Wednesday passed the long-awaited plan to implement a new taxpayer funded private school vouchers scheme for low-performing schools in Pennsylvania.

Senate Bill 1, sponsored by Sens. Jeffrey Piccola (R-Dauphin) and Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia), passed following a more than four-hour debate.

It’s a political win for school choice advocates like Tom Corbett – for the moment. The Governor applauded members of the Senate for passing the bill.

Under the plan children from households making less than $29,000 a year would be eligible to receive a full voucher of equal to what is spent in the district in which they live. Students from households earning less than $41,000 would get a voucher equal to 75 percent of the subsidy amount. On average, a family would receive $7,700 for each student, but could get as much as $13,000.

Both the PSEA (Pennsylvania State Education Association) and the PSBA (Pennsylvania School Board Association) strongly oppose Corbett’s plan. They were disappointed with the state funding cuts which forced already struggling school districts to increase class sizes, decrease course offerings and cut programs. The PSEA and the PSBA say school vouchers will take even more money away from public schools.

Promoters of the plan, such as REACH Alliance & Foundation and Commonwealth Foundation believe that the competition created by the voucher plan will ultimately improve schools. Wednesday, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Association) released a statement accusing the PA Senate of ignoring its obligations to the state legislature by passing private school vouchers. Advocacy groups like Dropout Nation expect the passage of this plan will start a conversation about expanding voucher plans to middle-class households, especially in the suburbs.

The bill now goes to the House for consideration where support for the taxpayer-funded voucher system remains uncertain. House Speaker Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, told the Patriot-News he doubts that the House will pass the education reform plan.

TAA signed into law

[from Senator Casey's website, Oct. 21, 2011] WASHINGTON, DC - The Trade Adjustment Assistance Act introduced last month by U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, was signed into law today. Senator Casey has pushed for over a year to extend this help for workers who have lost their jobs because of unfair foreign trade with countries like China.

“This is a victory for workers who have been hurt by unfair foreign trade,” said Senator Casey. “Extension of Trade Adjustment Assistance is a long overdue and necessary step to help Pennsylvania workers and ensure a trained workforce. I am disappointed that it has taken so long for Congress to pass this help for workers. Workers who suffered because their jobs were sent overseas shouldn’t have had to wait for more NAFTA-style free trade agreements to pass. Moving forward, the country must develop a manufacturing policy that invests in Pennsylvania workers and promotes U.S. jobs. It is time to put Pennsylvania workers first.”

No Child Left Behind bill heads to the Senate

[from Senator Casey's website] U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) last night joined a bipartisan group of Senators in voting for the first comprehensive bill in a decade to overhaul the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), commonly known as No Child Left Behind. The bill was passed out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee in a bipartisan vote of 15 to 7 and now heads to the full Senate for consideration.

[According to Senator Casey's press release] The Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization Act will:

Fix the one-size-fits-all approach created by the No Child Left Behind Act.

• Eliminate policies like the “adequate yearly progress” requirements and mandated federal sanctions for all schools that create pressure to “teach to the test.”
• Support state-designed accountability systems consistent with principles supported by the Council of Chief State School Officers.
• Make schools accountable to the communities they serve by ensuring that all parents, families, and community members have access to disaggregated information about how effectively their schools are educating all students.

Help ensure that every student graduates from high school ready for college and a career.

• Support states as they develop and implement college and career ready academic standards with high-quality assessments that will help make our young people the most skilled citizens in the world.
• Fix America’s dropout factories, the 12 percent of high schools that produce 50 percent of our dropouts.
• Foster collaboration between early childhood programs and school systems to ensure that children start school ready to succeed.

Support great teachers and principals and ensure that all children receive the best instruction.

• Help ensure there are great teachers and principals in every school through improved support and evaluation systems.
• Recruit and prepare teachers for high-need subjects like math and science.
• Help more schools provide a well-rounded education with time for the arts and physical activity.
• Support student success by promoting safe and healthy schools.
• Prepare more teachers to teach the diverse learners in America’s schools including students with disabilities and English learners.

Focus the federal government’s role on the things it does best while giving states and communities the flexibility they need to address the unique needs of their students and schools.

• Direct federal resources to turn around chronically struggling schools and those with significant achievement gaps and allow states to take student progress into consideration while rating schools.
• Promote smooth transition and alignment from early learning to K-12 to higher education and across federal education programs.
• Consolidate and streamline programs in the current law and eliminate those that are duplicative or unnecessary.

Redistricting Watch: PA Legislative Maps to be Unveiled Oct. 31

[reposted from Politics PA] Oct. 22, 2011 - By Keegan Gibson, Managing Editor

Consider Frankenstein’s monster: a twisted, tortured amalgamate of parts and pieces lacking any inherent cohesion – an offense against God and man – and yet somehow, functioning.

With that in mind, perhaps it’s appropriate that the new Pa. legislative maps will be unveiled on Halloween.

According to multiple sources close to the process, the Legislative Reapportionment Commission (LRC) will hold a meeting on Monday, October 31st. They are said to be planning the vote on the new district maps for the Pa. House and Senate.

“The shape of the 199th District for the next 10 years will be unveiled within a week! Stay tuned!,” PA Rep. Stephen Bloom (R-Cumberland) tweeted on Saturday morning.

Several other sources confirm that the LRC is aiming for the decisive vote the 31st, and hoping to have the final version codified by mid December.

“The deadline for the Legislative Reapportionment Commission to adopt the preliminary plan for General Assembly districts is November 14. There has been interest in trying to adopt the preliminary plan sooner than that.” said Erik Arneson, Communications and Policy Director for PA Sen. Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi.

The LRC consists of five voting members: each of the four caucus leaders and Chairman Stephen McEwen, a retired judge on the PA Superior Court who ran on the Republican ticket. Three of the four caucus leaders – Jay Costa (D), Mike Turzai (R-) and Frank Dermody (D) – hail from western PA. Only Pileggi (R-Dealware) hails from the east. That might serve to blunt the the impact of sharp population declines in the region.

Some of the prevalent conversations suggest that the map will pull one Senate districts from western PA to the east – possibly to the Poconos, possibly to south central part of the state. Others say 4 to 5 PA House districts will be likewise relocated. In any case, sources from both parties have said they believe McEwen will only support a unanimous plan and will not side with one party over the other.

The LRC has 90 days from the time of it was certified to submit the preliminary maps. The board has set a deadline of November 14th (based on the date of their first meeting, August 15th). Next, there is a 30 day period for public comment, corrections, and appeals to the Commission. After the public input is received, the LRC has 30 more days to finalize the new districts.

Teachers and First Responders "Back to Work" Act

Monday, October 17, 2011

[from Senator Casey's website] - U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) today joined Senators Harry Reid (D-NV) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) to introduce the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act. The bill would support the hiring, rehiring, and retention of career law enforcement officers and first responders. The bill will also save or create nearly 400,000 education jobs through critical investments in the education.

“If we want to ensure that we are on a path to recovery then we need to focus on job creation,” said Senator Casey. “Police officers, fire fighters and teachers are the last jobs we can afford to lose. This common-sense measure will help ensure that our streets are safe and families are prepared during these difficult times.”

Budget shortfalls in communities across the country have forced cities, towns, and suburbs to cut back their police forces. We know that in times of economic stress, crime rates actually increase, putting further strain on law enforcement. Yet as law enforcement fatalities rise, fewer officers are patrolling the streets.

Senator Casey has consistently fought for the Community Oriented Policing (COPS) Program. Experts cite this program as an important factor in driving down crime for eight consecutive years in the 1990s. Since 1995, the COPS program has put more than 120,000 community policy offers on the beat. In Pennsylvania, COPS grants have funded 3,651 additional police officers and sheriff’s deputies to engage in crime prevention.

The bill also will save or create nearly 400,000 education jobs through critical investments in the education of our nation’s children. Specifically, the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act will invest $30 billion to support state and local efforts to retain, rehire, and hire early childhood, elementary, and secondary educators.

PA Senate Bill 1 - Education

An Act amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949, providing for opportunity scholarships; establishing the Excess Scholarship Fund; providing for educational improvement tax credit; and repealing provisions of the Tax Reform Code of 1971 relating to educational improvement tax credit.

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Senators Scarnati and Mary Jo White voted "Yay" when this ran through the Appropriations committee the first time.

According to an Oct. 12, 2011 Lancaster Intelligencer Journal article:

"Private school advocates lauded Gov. Tom Corbett's education agenda, while public school officials and supporters of public education criticized the plan for relying on taxpayer-funded vouchers and charter schools to improve student achievement.

Corbett unveiled his proposal in York Tuesday, saying the current model for education in Pennsylvania isn't working, and "we have to think and act smarter."

The governor wants to implement a voucher program for students in the state's lowest-performing public schools, adopt a more rigorous teacher evaluation system, loosen restrictions on public charter schools and expand a business tax credit program that funds scholarships and school educational foundations."

"The most controversial is the "opportunity scholarship" program that would award state grants to low-income students in school districts with the lowest-performing schools in the state. A family of four with an income of $29,000 or less would be eligible for vouchers for tuition at a private school or another public school. Corbett said scholarship recipients would be subject to state-administered assessments to assure the money is being spent wisely, but he provided no details on how that process would work."

"In addition to implementing vouchers, the governor wants to expand funding for the Educational Improvement Tax Credit, which this year will provide $75 million worth of tax credits to businesses that donate to scholarship funds and other educational programs, mainly at private schools."

Read the full article at: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/477781_Corbett-education-plan-has-foes--allies.html#ixzz1bhaQQoj2