Corbett: School voucher bill well-positioned for passage

HARRISBURG -- Saying he believes the Legislature is in 'as good a position' as they have been 'for many, many years' to get a school voucher bill passed, Gov. Tom Corbett said he still wants to see this legislation approved before lawmakers leave for recess on June 30.

"It's going to take a push," Corbett said today at an unrelated news conference.

Corbett's effort to push vouchers, taxpayer-paid documents parents could use to send their children to private or parochial schools, is the first major effort in the state House and Senate in more than a decade.

Kevin Harley, Corbett`s spokesman, said a plan by Beaver County Republican Rep. Jim Christiana 'seems to be a viable compromise that would be good for children' and a 'likely vehicle in working a compromise that everybody could live with.'

Christiana`s bill would make school vouchers available to low-income children who attend the lowest-performing 5 percent of Pennsylvania schools.

The vouchers would be available starting in the 2012-2013 school year. The bill also would open up Educational Improvement Tax Credit scholarships to families earning up to $60,000. Last year, only families earning $50,000 or less qualified for the scholarships.

Rep. Tom Quigley, R-Montgomery, said school voucher legislation could be bundled with charter school reform and a teacher furlough bill to gain support.

The Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state's largest teacher's union, opposes vouchers, saying they will drain already strained state resources from public schools.

Former Republican Gov. Tom Ridge made two unsuccessful bids to get lawmakers to approve vouchers for school choice.