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[Editor's note: This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire.]
By Colleen Hroncich
Real Clear Wire
After 27 years working in education – including 17 years as a teacher and administrator in public schools – Tom Smith thought that he’d seen it all. Smith, the principal and chief administrative officer of Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown, was excited when the State Senate included Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS) Scholarships in the budget it passed after negotiating with Gov. Josh Shapiro. Since Shapiro had publicly expressed support for the scholarships, Smith figured it was a done deal. When Shapiro announced instead that he would line-item-veto the program, Smith was shocked.
“We have more than 120 current Bishop McCort students who came from a local school district that ranks in the bottom 15 percent of schools in Pennsylvania and need financial aid. More families have toured our school and would love to enroll their children, but we don’t have enough aid available. The PASS Scholarship would have been a game changer,” said Smith. “I never expected the governor to pull the rug out from under these families.”
PASS Scholarships, also known as Lifeline Scholarships, are targeted to students whose household income is less than 2.5 times the federal poverty level and who are assigned to the worst-performing 15 percent of schools in the state. The scholarships would pay for private school tuition and fees and would be worth $5,000 for elementary school, $10,000 for high school, and $15,000 for students with special needs – all sums well below the average $21,000 per student spent in Pennsylvania public schools.
The budget that passed the Senate included $100 million for the PASS Scholarships. This was a separate line item from the $16.2 billion in state funding for public schools (more than a $1 billion increase from last year). In other words, the scholarships would take no money from public school budgets. For each student who left a public school using the scholarships, there would be more funding per student for those who remained in that district.
Senate Republicans say that they worked closely with Shapiro on the budget agreement and included several of his priorities in exchange for his support of PASS. On Face the State, Republican state Sen. Scott Martin said that Shapiro “told us he would handle working it through the rest of the process to get it through the House.”
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Then came Shapiro’s unexpected announcement. After supporting the idea of scholarships in his campaign last year and reiterating it on Fox News on June 23, the governor faced intense backlash from teachers’ unions. Despite his public statements and his assurances to Senate Republicans, Shapiro caved when Democratic House Majority Leader Matt Bradford said that the House wouldn’t vote for the budget if it included the scholarships.
After acknowledging that House Democrats’ opposition to the PASS Scholarships was the only thing standing in the way of the budget, Shapiro announced that he would use his line-item veto against the program. The governor’s flip-flop was a huge disappointment to the thousands of children trapped in these low-achieving schools. Adding insult to injury, Shapiro was dismissive of them. “I am unwilling to engage in the small ball which for so long has stymied progress,” the governor said.
McCort’s Smith is unimpressed. “I hear all the time from parents who are desperate to get their children out of the local school district which ranks in the bottom 15%. I know what our students who have been able to transfer to Bishop McCort went through in their old schools. There’s nothing ‘small ball’ about trying to give your child the best possible opportunities in life.” He added: “We’re operating on a shoestring budget compared to our local public schools, and I’m scrambling to find as much financial aid as I possibly can to help students attend McCort while still paying our teachers and keeping the lights on.”
Smith urges the governor and any lawmakers who oppose PASS or Lifeline Scholarships to visit Johnstown and talk to some of the families who attend Bishop McCort. “Maybe if they hear directly from families, they’ll be able to put politics aside and do what’s best for students.”
This article was originally published by RealClearPennsylvania and made available via RealClearWire.SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!
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