WHAT+SCHOOL+VOUCHER+DELAY+MEANS+FOR+YOU

= School Voucher Bill Delayed = = Analysis =



=By Steven Singer= = = =//T.E.A.C.H. Committee Web Organizer//= =//4/12/11//=

= = = = =Congratulations! We did it! We stopped the State Senate from even voting on Republican’s controversial school voucher bill!=

= = =Perhaps you think that isn’t much of a victory. The bill may still come up again before the senate as early as April 26. Perhaps you think the bill's delay doesn’t have anything to do with you. It’s just Harrisburg politics as usual. Well, you’re wrong on both counts.=

= = =Yes, Senate Bill 1 may be amended further by GOP legislators to make it an easier sell. However, even that tells us something. Everyone expected Corbett and the Republican controlled Senate to push this bill through TODAY. The fact that they didn’t only shows they don’t have nearly the legislative support we thought they did. Corbett met with Republican Senators behind closed doors after the bill was delayed. No one’s reporting what he said, but can it be anything but an attempt to bully them into supporting an unpopular piece of legislation?=

= = =After months of tub thumping from the GOP, months of threats to dismantle the public education system as we know it - to defund it, to bust the unions, etc. - we finally see a crack in their armor. The mask of arrogant confidence is starting to slip - and underneath do we detect a look of fear?=

= = =This didn’t happen all by itself. It took an outcry from concerned citizens to make this happen. It took people emailing, writing letters, calling, protesting, writing op-eds in the newspaper. It took a much publicized public opinion poll by paopposedtovouchers.org. It took people like you and me.=

= = =So, yes, we did it! We held them off! Certainly, they’ll be back, but for today we can breathe easy. We won the first limited skirmish. There’s much yet to do, but let us learn the lesson from this. WE MUST STAY ACTIVE! We must continue to write our state senators and let them know what we expect them to do. We must continue to make our voices heard - not just on Senate Bill 1, but on every single piece of union-busting, education-slashing, pig-headed legislation they try to muscle through.=

= = = TOGETHER WE CAN BEAT THEM! This just proves it!=

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