I don't like this school voucher thing the House just passed.

[Pat Riot]

What do you think?

[demodonkey]

1. Another horrible ploy to further gut our public education system.

Will waste millions of taxpayer dollars and leave many children behind.

http://www.mcall.com/opinion/mc-vouchers-counter-oleksiak-20111026,0,3916187.story

Corbett and these other fools are deliberately destroying proven systems that took decades if not centuries to build... we may never recover from these horrible "reforms"

[JPZenger]

2. Private schools will cherry pick the best students

The private schools will be able to cherry-pick the best students. The students who are left in public schools will be the ones who need the most resources. However, the public schools won't have enough resources left to help them. They will be left behind.

A better solution is to make it easier for public schools to separate the disruptive students from the regular students. Many people want their children to attend non-public schools because they can keep out the disruptive students.

[femmocrat]

3. It passed the Senate, not the House.

It has a good chance of not coming up for a vote in the House. I think it is a terrible idea!

[wisteria]

4. I hope you are right. n/t

[JPZenger]

5. Many legislators still favor the increased tax credit idea

The State has a system in which people or corporations can get state tax credits if they fund scholarships for poor kids to attend non-public schools. The total amount of those tax credits are now limited. Many legislators expanding that approach, instead of vouchers. The tax credit approach does not directly take money away from struggling public schools, it results in lower taxes (which Republicans love), and it avoids the treat of future government intervention in religious schools (which they hate).

In addition, there is a real threat that vouchers to religious schools could be found to violate the PA. Constitution.