Here we go again. The Pennsylvania House Education Committee is planning to vote on a private school voucher bill on Monday--and it could see a full vote in the House as early as next week. 

House Bill 1800, introduced by Speaker of the House Mike Turzai, would offer vouchers of up to $8,200 to students in Harrisburg School District for private and religious school tuition--including students who are already enrolled in private school. This bill, if it passes, would cost Harrisburg up the $8.5 million in lost state funding, and could expand vouchers to other Pennsylvania districts in the future. 

Click here to contact your state representative and tell them to VOTE NO on this voucher experiment, using a tool from our friends at Education Voters of Pennsylvania. 

HB 1800 is not about academic quality. The bill does not provide for any academic accountability to ensure that private schools receiving public money are effectively educating students. In fact, it explicitly prohibits the commonwealth, the district, and Harrisburg's receiver from establishing any new accountability measures for private and religious schools funded by the new vouchers. In short, taxpayer funding will go to schools without taxpayer oversight.

This lack of oversight extends to discrimination in selection of students. Nothing in this bill changes the fact that private and religious schools can refuse to admit students, including students with special needs and LGBT students. The protections that federal law provides for students with disabilities in public schools, including the right to an individualized education program, do not apply to private schools that could receive public funding under HB 1800. The "choice" that this bill provides is in the hands of private school admissions officers, not families. 

Voucher programs across the country show less-than-stellar academic results as well, with studies in four states showing negative impacts on student math scores.

Speaker Turzai called this bill a "pilot program." He is right about that: creating a school voucher program in Harrisburg will pave the way for public funding to go from other public school districts to unaccountable private schools. As written, this bill could be used to establish voucher programs in 12 other school districts--such as Erie, Hazelton, Allentown, Reading, Wilkes-Barre, and Lancaster--if a receiver is one day appointed in these districts. 

Pennsylvania's school funding system is broken. It is one of the nation's most unequal, with school funding closely tied to local wealth. That is why we are representing six school districts in a lawsuit against state leaders, including Speaker Turzai, demanding that the legislature comply with the state constitution and ensure that all students can access a high-quality public education.

Voucher experiments like HB 1800 will only send public funding away from public schools. They distract from the real work that the legislature should be doing to make sure that all public schools have the resources to give students the teachers, counselors, and safe learning environments that they need.

Thank you for supporting public education.