Voucher+Opponents,+Proponents+Donated+Heavily+to+Candidates

=By Brad Bumsted and Mike Wereschagin= =//Published in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review//= =//4/25/11//= = =

=HARRISBURG -- Two main combatants in the clamor over whether to use public dollars for private schooling donated a combined $8.3 million to legislative and gubernatorial candidates, state campaign finance records show.= =The Pennsylvania State Education Association, which opposes school vouchers, spent $1.9 million last year. Students First, the leading proponent of them, spent $6.4 million, although $3.4 million went to an unsuccessful candidate for governor, state Sen. Anthony Williams, in the Democratic primary.= =With a vote on school vouchers pending in the Senate, the Tribune-Review examined campaign money that flowed to influential senators and House members -- including contributions of $100,000 each to two Republican senators from Students First, and donations exceeding $40,000 each to four House Democrats from PSEA, the state's largest teachers' union.= ="This is a high-stakes game," said Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown. "The stakes are, of course, the education of our children in Pennsylvania. It is also a major financial question being debated: where a lot of our tax money will be spent, and who will benefit from it."= =Proponents say vouchers -- the documents parents could use instead of cash for tuition -- would save children from attending failing public schools. Opponents say vouchers would drain needed resources from districts. Students would use taxpayer-paid vouchers to attend the public, private or parochial school of their choice.= =The recent influx of pro-voucher campaign cash counteracted donations traditionally given by advocates for more public school funding, said Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Chester County, who received $100,000 from Students First. Pileggi said he funneled the money to Republican candidates because he wasn't up for re-election last year.= =In addition to Pileggi, Students First donated $100,000 to Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County; $100,000 to Williams' Senate campaign; $60,000 to Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia; and $50,000 to the campaigns of House Majority Leader Mike Turzai and Senate Education Chairman Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin County.= =The average political donation to Pennsylvania candidates and political action committees last year was $280.= ="I appreciate anything that is given to me," said Evans, one of the first urban Democrats to support vouchers in the 1990s, although he opposed former Republican Gov. Tom Ridge's voucher plan because he said it didn't do enough. "At the end of the day, you have no guarantee from me."= =Scarnati said he has supported vouchers for several years, and the donation will not influence his vote. He received $25,000 from PSEA.= =Williams, one of the other Democrats to back school choice in the 1990's, could not be reached. Dawn Chavous, executive director of Students First, called him "a champion for kids for a very long time. This has not been a new issue for him."= =Interest groups tend to donate to people with whom they have "common ground," Turzai said. But he said his votes are based on caucus research and testimony at legislative hearings.= =PSEA's top individual recipients were four House Democratic candidates: former Rep. Paul Drucker of Paoli, $47,500; former House Majority Leader Todd Eachus of Luzerne County, $44,500; and $44,000 each to Rep. Mike Gerber of Montgomery County and Rep. Margo Davidson of Upper Darby.= ="It's public information. It is what it is," said Drucker, who lost his seat in November.= =Gerber and Davidson didn't return calls. Eachus could not be reached.= =Piccola sponsored Senate Bill 1, which would allow the use of state tax money for vouchers for children to attend private or parochial schools. He could not be reached.= =Most recipients of Students First money "have already been fighting for this issue, in some cases for a decade or for two decades," Chavous said. She hopes the money helps to bring about educational change for kids from "low-income, working-class families in nonperforming schools that are sometimes violent."= ="Sometimes their voices get overlooked," she said.= =PSEA spokesman Wythe Keever said the union supports candidates through its Political Action Committee for Education "in order for our members to have a say in their profession and to advocate for the students they serve."= =Cherri Banks of Wilkinsburg, a retired administrator with Pittsburgh Public Schools, said she doesn't think money will influence how far the voucher bill progresses.= ="Ultimately, what's one of the big influences on this is how much public schools can improve their performance and image in the short term," said Banks, who opposes vouchers.= =The bill, undergoing revision, awaits review by senators when they return to session on Tuesday. Lawmakers postponed a vote supporters pushed for two weeks ago.= =Evans said he's unconvinced the state should spend hundreds of millions of dollars on vouchers while facing a $4.2 billion budget deficit and proposed cuts for higher education.= ="The question is, is this the time for it? I don't know," Evans said.= =Students First and like-minded groups have an advantage over PSEA in that they're able to focus on one issue, Keever said. PSEA turned its attention to the state's education subsidy, other education reform efforts, "and the security of our members' pensions, to name a few issues," Keever said. "Vouchers was not the single issue."= =About 6,000 people contributed to the union committee, compared with 19 people and committees that funded Students First last year, according to state records.= =The teachers union uses money from members' dues, and the organization's leaders decide which candidates get money, with little input from rank-and-file teachers, Chavous said.= =The number of PSEA contributors doesn't necessarily mean the union has deeper support than voucher proponents, Pileggi said.= =Seven of the 10 largest donations statewide last year were made by voucher advocates, including Students First, other groups and individuals, state records show.= =Students First donated $25,000 to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato and the race's eventual winner, Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, on the same day. PSEA gave $310,000 to Onorato. School choice was part of Corbett's campaign platform.= =Pileggi said Students First donors didn't ask him to support a particular school choice plan.= ="The conversations I've had with representatives of that organization were generally about the principles of choice and competition" in education, Pileggi said.= =Students First was established early last year with the goal of "providing kids trapped in failing schools with a good education," said Joe Watkins, chairman of the nonprofit and the political action committee. Watkins, a pastor and former White House aide, said he wants kids to have the same opportunities he had, thanks to his parents, who sent him to private school.= = = = Read more: [|Voucher opponents, proponents donated heavily to candidates - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review] [] = = = = =

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