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For Immediate
Release
1/21/11
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Piccola Challenges School Boards' Choice Stance
Labels Them "Defenders of the
Indefensible" and "the New Party of 'No'"
HARRISBURG - State Sen. Jeffrey E. Piccola (R-Dauphin and
York) responded to "school choice" opponents -- led by the Pennsylvania School
Boards Association (PSBA) – by saying they are "defending the indefensible" and
emerging as the "new party of 'no.'"
Piccola appeared with PSBA's Assistant Executive Director
Tim Allwein and Northern Lebanon School District Superintendent Don Bell last
night on WITF's SMART TALK call-in program.
After the program, Piccola said, "Once again, the
Pennsylvania School Boards Association and some individual school board members
and superintendents have demonstrated their willingness to defend the
indefensible. Like those who attempted to prop up the Berlin Wall before it
finally came crashing down, PSBA and their allies refuse to tear down the walls
of failure, trapping school children and their families."
"Their opposition to Senate Bill 1 boils down to two tired
old arguments that have been trotted out for decades—'We need more time' and 'We
need more money.' Well, we have given them both, and their playbook remains the
same," Piccola said. "Meanwhile, we have lost generations of kids to failure."
"They are out of touch with reality and not true advocates
for children. They are advocates for protecting turf and ultimately protecting
the employment of adults. As an association, they have no credibility on this
issue in the General Assembly, nor, frankly, on many other issues, including
mandate relief for public schools, because they fear offending their allies, the
teachers' unions."
Senate Bill 1 would allow the parents of a low-income child
in a failing school to take the state subsidy that would have been directed to
their home school district and apply it to the public, private or parochial
school of their choice. For the Harrisburg School District, for example, that
amount would equal approximately $9,000.
"PSBA and their allies, the teachers' unions, like to call
vouchers 'a ticket to nowhere,'" Piccola said. "But they refuse to admit that
some children are going nowhere fast already. They are trapped in 'nowhere,'
with no way out. Our plan helps these students who are trapped by their zip
code. By giving them an outstanding education in a school that suits them best,
we are giving them a passport to opportunity."
Piccola also countered PSBA claims regarding
transportation, constitutionality, athletic transfers, and private school
performance on the show. Viewers are encouraged to view the SMART TALK show in
its entirety on his website at www.piccola.org
or at www.witf.org.
"Contrary to the PSBA smear campaign, the Williams-Piccola
plan would not spark a mass exodus from public schools," Piccola said. "In the
first two years, for example, the plan is directed to students with the lowest
incomes in the lowest achieving schools."
"When PSBA predicts that all 'good' students would leave
public schools, it is an admission that parents are unhappy and ready to abandon
ship," Piccola said. "Having a front-row seat to their misinformation campaign,
I smell fear."
Sen. Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia), Piccola's fellow
bill sponsor, framed the choice debate as a "civil rights issue," noting that
wealthier parents have the economic freedom to move to better school districts,
but the poor cannot. Trapped by their zip code, they are left to fail. One
mother called in to the show last night, pleading for legislators to help her
save her child.
"Public schools are one of the last monopolies in America,"
Piccola said. "One size does not fit all, even in the best of schools. Choice
fosters competition, and competition inspires a better level of performance and
service."
The Williams-Piccola plan would give scholarships to
families meeting certain income limits, and also would increase by $25 million
the popular Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program, bringing the
total tax credits to $100 million.
The plan calls for a three-year phase-in. In the first
year, only low-income students attending persistently failing schools would be
eligible for a grant. In the second year, low-income students residing within
the attendance boundary of those schools, but attending private schools, would
be eligible; and in the third year, all low-income students regardless of school
district would be eligible. "Low-income" is defined as families whose income is
at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level – a family of four would
qualify at $28,665.
The Senate Education Committee expects to hold a second
hearing on Senate Bill 1 on Feb. 16. They also held a day-long hearing in
October.
"Taxpayers are paying about $17,000 a year to educate a
child enrolled in the Harrisburg School District. Our tax dollars are buying
expensive failure," Piccola said. "Let's give parents a choice, so they can vote
with their feet.
CONTACT:
Diane
McNaughton
(717) 787-6801
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