School+Voucher+Program+Moving+Through+State+Senate

=By Laura Olsen= =//Published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette//= =//4/11/11//= = = = = =HARRISBURG -- A bill crafting a publicly funded voucher program to send low-income children to schools outside their district could be approved by the state Senate as early as Tuesday.= =The controversial measure passed a lengthy Appropriations Committee meeting, where it was amended to expand the vouchers to some middle-class students in the program's fourth year. A series of Democratic amendments, seeking to limit the program or place additional requirements on the schools accepting voucher students, were defeated.= =Low-income students in more than 140 poorly performing schools would be eligible for the voucher program during its first year. In the second year, all low-income students living in the attendance area of a persistently low-achieving school would be eligible, whether they attended that school or not.= =In the third year, all low-income students would be eligible no matter where they went. Part of today's amendment would cap the amount of scholarships to those not eligible until the third year at $250 million.= =The potential cost of the program drew repeated concerns from lawmakers opposing the measure, and from a coalition of interest groups rallying against the measure earlier today. Those groups also presented a survey they commissioned showing 61 percent of Pennsylvanians against using tax dollars for private, religious or parochial schools.= =Senate Education Committee Chairman Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin, said he's been working with his House colleagues, some of whom have concerns about the measure, and expressed confidence that it will move swiftly through the Legislature.= =Laura Olson: lolson@post-gazette.com or 717-787-4254.= = = = Read more: [] = = = = =

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