Corbett appears set to push school vouchers

HARRISBURG - The reference was a fleeting one, just 21 of 1,689 words in the new governor's sweeping inaugural message:

"Our education system must contend with other nations and so we must embrace innovation, competition, and choice in our education system."

But to anyone in the ever-contentious arena of public education and school reform, Tom Corbett's signal on Tuesday was clear: He thinks Pennsylvania is finally ready for school vouchers.

Politically, at least, he might be right. On the launchpad sits a proposal, crafted by a key Republican in a GOP-dominated legislature and a Democrat who, unlike many in his party, is an ardent advocate of school vouchers. They're calling it Senate Bill 1.

It is sure to face a fight.

Corbett and the bill's backers want to shake up public schools with vouchers, a controversial way to help low-income parents transfer their children from failing public schools to a public, private, or parochial school of their choosing.

Corbett, a Republican who once taught high school civics, alluded to such parents in his speech, saying, "Pennsylvania's tradition of character and courage carries on in the single mother who works an extra job so that she can send her children to a better school."

Senate Bill 1 would have the state redirect a substantial block of public-school dollars - on average, about $9,000 per pupil - to the school the parents select.

The concept failed when a previous Republican governor, Tom Ridge, proposed it 15 years ago. But supporters in both parties say the success of some charter schools and a growing constituency for more education options make the time right.

The bill, cosponsored by Sens. Jeffrey Piccola (R., Dauphin) and Anthony Hardy Williams (D., Phila.), would initially target low-income students in the state's worst-performing schools, and would expand to become available to such students statewide in its third year.

Piccola and Williams, along with Corbett, call the plight of children in failing schools "the civil rights issue of the 21st century."

Voucher and school-choice advocates often allude to the civil rights movement. In a statement when the bill was announced, Williams said: "Standing in the way of school choice for needy kids in failing urban schools is like Gov. George Wallace standing in the doorway of a classroom to continue the segregation of the '60s."