Two+GOP+House+members+to+introduce+voucher+legislation

= By **Brad Bumsted** = =// Published by the Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW //= =//6/20/11//= = = =HARRISBURG -- Two Republican House members from opposite ends of the state this week will announce separate tuition voucher bills that would allow parents to choose schools for their children.= =Rep. Curt Schroder of Chester County today plans to debut his bills -- one that is broad-based legislation for all students, and an alternative bill geared to kids in failing schools. Beaver County Rep. Jim Christiana's plan focuses on low-income kids in failing schools.= =Until now, state senators, but not House members, championed tuition vouchers for school choice. Parents could use the taxpayer-paid vouchers to send kids to private or parochial schools.= =Christiana said vouchers would enable kids to escape from "violent, failing schools." He's hopeful that a House leader will sign on as lead co-sponsor. House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, intends to become a co-sponsor but would do so as a personal position and not a caucus position, said Stephen Miskin, Turzai's spokesman.= =Vouchers are a priority of Republican Gov. Tom Corbett. But voucher supporters have been unable to move a Senate bill that Corbett wants -- S.B. 1 authored by Sens. Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin County, and Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia.= =One of Schroder's bills and Christiana's bill would combine vouchers with the proposed expansion of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit that House members recently approved. Students get scholarships paid by businesses, which in turn get tax credits from the state. The Senate bill includes an EITC expansion.= =That enables middle-income kids to participate in school choice, Christiana said.= = With two weeks of session remaining before summer recess, lawmakers are paying attention to a state budget and could bump consideration of school vouchers to fall. = =When Christiana issued a memo to seek co-sponsors, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, asked lawmakers not to sign on. The union said although its leaders have not reviewed his bill, it opposes the concept.= ="We strongly oppose any legislation that takes money from public schools, particularly struggling schools and the students they serve, to provide a voucher to private and parochial schools with little or no accountability to the public," the PSEA said in a statement.= = Read more: [|Two GOP House members to introduce voucher legislation - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review] [] = = = = = =News= =home=