Category: Education

Schools Stay Open But Church Must End Choice Hypocrisy

I always try to check my emotions at the door when I begin a column. That’s why I rarely write in the first person. But, hey, I’m also human and a Philly Catholic, so I shed a few tears of joy when it was recently announced that four diocesan high schools and 18 elementary schools were reprieved from their death sentence and would remain open.
I didn’t go to Bonner (mine was the other Augustinian school, Malvern), but a brother, an uncle and a bunch of my friends did. (In fact, my uncle was a member of Bonner’s first graduating class and has three Prendergast – yes, Prendergast – football letters. How’s that for trivia?). And I have an aunt who’s a grad of the school that has, perhaps, the greatest tradition of all – West Catholic.
(Quick tangent: I’m a graduate of Annunciation BVM grade school in Havertown, which a niece and nephew presently attend. Despite meeting or exceeding all of the thresholds laid out by Bishop McFadden in 2009 to remain open, Annunciation is nonetheless being closed. Ignoring the wishes of his congregation, the pastor refused to appeal. Scores of parishioners, encouraged by the 75 percent success rate of the schools that did appeal, as well as West Catholic remaining open even though it did not appeal, have taken their case directly to Archbishop Chaput. You can read their detailed appeal on PaWatercooler.com
Now that a short-term victory for many schools has been achieved, it’s time to push emotion aside and take an objective look at the situation, where more questions than answers remain. What changed? What transpired in 30 days that allowed almost half of the schools to stay open? Was it “faulty information” that the Blue Ribbon Commission received, as some readers allege? Or was it a few deep-pocketed donors stepping up to the plate? And if so, is relying on a handful of wealthy individuals really a sustainable financial solution?
It seems quite a stretch that bad information could be the reason for the turnaround. For that to be true, many schools must have submitted data painting a very negative picture – information subsequently determined to be incorrect (hence the reversals). Outside of a few pastors who lack the desire or energy to further the mission of Catholic education, that scenario doesn’t stand up to the common sense test, since most schools would obviously put their best foot forward in their quest to stay open.
So either the Commission did not request the right information, or completely dropped the ball in analyzing the documents it did receive (as referenced in last week’s column). Either way, given that the Commission’s decisions affected the lives of so many, Philadelphia Catholics had every right to expect more, especially given the composition of the Commission. Its members included former top executives of some of America’s largest banks and insurance companies who were familiar with making tough financial decisions. Something just doesn’t add up, and, fair or not, that is fostering cynicism and fear that future closings are inevitable.
Of course, there is another possibility – that the Commission simply never bothered (or wasn’t allowed?) to contact many of the schools in question. Since more than a few pastors confidentially enlightened me to that situation – why would they lie about something so easily verifiable? – it tends to further cloud the entire decision-making process, both closures and reprieves. And why on earth, if the Commission/Archdiocese realized that the data was incomplete and/or their methodologies flawed, would they not postpone the original announcement in January until they got their house in order?
As a result, many faithful are rolling their eyes (again), wondering how the Archdiocese could look so foolish, while still not communicating any long-term solution. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that, since enrollment has decreased sharply over the last decade while costs have risen, a viable plan must be enacted quickly, or the same situation will arise in the near future.
With that distinct possibility looming, how can the Church avoid it?
1) Start talking about the positive aspects of the Church, restoring the credibility that has been shattered by years of sex scandals, shredded documents and cover-ups. The Roman Catholic Church is the largest provider of social services in the entire world (and second in America behind only the U.S. government) and administers the world’s largest nonpublic school system, yet most people are unaware of those phenomenal achievements – a massive failure in public relations.
The Catholic mission is perhaps the most noble on the planet, and the Church’s history, while certainly not without its darker moments, is a storied one. From its humble beginnings as the church of a fisherman named Peter, Roman Catholicism became the most benevolent and impactful force the world has ever known. It’s time to tell that magnificent story and educate the world – again – on what it really means to be Catholic, while purging every aspect of the scandals which have rocked the church to its very foundations. Unequivocally, pride in Catholic identity leads to fuller schools.
2) The newly created Faith In The Future Foundation – charged with fundraising and being a guiding force on marketing and recruiting for the 17 archdiocesan high schools and assisting parish elementary schools – is a good idea, but only if it offers membership to rank-and-file Catholics with ears to the ground.
Much criticism directed at the Church is that it is too insulated from the pressing issues, and too isolated from the parishioners themselves. If the Foundation is comprised only of millionaires and politically-connected Catholics, it will fail. That is not to invoke “class warfare,” for having intelligent business leaders is imperative, but by definition, most would not be able to relate to the concerns of the masses (no pun intended). If “average” Catholics are not given a dedicated platform to offer their perspective, the rigidness, bureaucracy and stagnation that has come to define the Archdiocese will only worsen. And the exodus of Catholics will accelerate.
3) The Church needs to fight. If you want a true long-term solution to keep schools open and thriving, and believe the best way is by returning to parents some of their tax money (vouchers and tax credits) so they can make the best choice where to educate their children, you are absolutely correct. But it doesn’t happen by itself.
It only happens when political muscle is flexed. It only happens when you play hardball. It only happens when you unabashedly make school choice the Church’s Number One issue in the primary and general election. And it only happens when you make it crystal clear to all legislators who doubt the ferocity of a newly awakened tiger – one that has shed its paper skin – that they will reap the whirlwind for that miscalculation.
Seems common sense, yet the church has been doing the complete opposite. For over a year, Freindly Fire and others have been successfully battling clueless church factions who have been pushing “educational reform” legislation (Senate Bill 1) that would neither educate nor reform. It’s such a worthless bill – written while Ed Rendell was still governor and not amended to include the middle class (at all) despite an infinitely more favorable Legislature and pro-school choice Gov. Tom Corbett – that, had it been passed a year ago, virtually none of the schools slated for closure would have been saved. School choice bills affecting just low-income families are born losers; only when the middle class is comprehensively included will there b
e light at the end of the tunnel to help Catholic schools survive and prosper.
Ironically, the Church – through its lobbying arm, the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference – hurt itself by backing the wrong bill and not being truthful that the middle class was excluded from that legislation. Upon learning that the bill would never affect them or help keep their schools open, many Catholics reacted with palpable anger, setting off another wholly preventable firestorm. One step forward and three back is not the way to achieve political success.
What can be done immediately? Make an extremely aggressive push to have the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) expansion bill pass the Senate, where “school choice advocate” Sen. Jeff Piccola is selfishly letting it languish (calling it “DOA”) because he can’t pass his low-income voucher bill. Making the sin mortal is that the EITC bill, sponsored by Montgomery County state Rep. Tom Quigley, passed the House by an unheard-of bipartisan vote of 190 to 7 – a year ago! The biggest tragedy is that some of the schools that have been ordered to close might have been saved if this bill had passed last spring. But because of misguided legislative priorities and a total lack of political pressure by the Church, Catholics – and their schools – continue to suffer.
All of the suggested solutions will be for naught if the hierarchy doesn’t learn one lesson very quickly. You cannot grow the church by being inconsistent, and yes, hypocritical, especially to your own people. The Archdiocese has thus far refused to grant school choice to many in elementary schools, instead dictating what schools children must attend. That policy has created an immense backlash, with thousands feeling betrayed since they correctly see the Church pushing school choice for others, but denying it to them. And no amount of spin or enrollment explanations will change that bitter sentiment. Charity starts at home.
Of the countless emails received in the last week – most from loyal Catholics – one message was most common: Keep the faith but fight the corruption.
If grounded church leaders and reinvigorated rank-and-file Catholics keep that in mind while preaching a positive message and a wielding a political sledgehammer, then prayers for keeping Catholic education alive far into the future will undoubtedly be answered.

Part II: Catholic School Closings Rooted In ‘Paper Tiger’ Church Policy

What does it tell you when private Notre Dame
Academy in Villanova has 101 students in its freshman class – at $20,000
per year – and Archbishop Prendergast in Drexel Hill, an Archdiocesan
high school, has … 82? Yes –eighty two.

That the economy is
booming because folks can shell out 20K a pop? That the gap between rich
and poor is widening, with more people in the “have” category? Not
quite.

It tells us, in no uncertain terms, two things:

1. Over the last several decades, too many leaders in the Catholic Church
have strayed from their Godly mission, trying to be all things to all
people, destroying the Catholic identity, and, worst of all, covering-up
the child sex scandal and protecting pedophile priests (See Jan. 11 column).
The result has been, and continues to be, apathy for most, anger for
many, and an exodus from the church for thousands of others. The church
has reaped what it has sown, and nowhere is that more evident that the
30 percent decrease in Catholic school enrollment in Archdiocesan
schools.

2. The Catholic Church, for all its money, muscle and
might, has been a political paper tiger in fighting for its beliefs,
most notably school choice. For the last 15 years, it either didn’t do
its job to ensure passage of legislation that would provide a voucher to
parents (their own tax money) to send their children to the school of
their choice, or it backed meaningless and ineffective bills. Either
way, if the church had done its job effectively without cowering at the
sight of its own shadow, only a handful of the 49 schools that closed
recently and the scores – that everyone seems to be forgetting – that
have been shuttered over the last decade, would be out of business. In
fact, most would be thriving.

The Prendie situation tells it all.
While officially having “open enrollment” where physical or church
boundaries are not criteria for admission, Prendie still traditionally
draws from Catholic “feeder schools,” as does its brother school,
Monsignor Bonner (119 in its freshman class). Do the math. If we
conservatively estimate that there are 22 elementary schools serving
those high schools, that’s fewer than four girls per school going to
Prendie, and just six attending Bonner. No wonder they’re to be closed!

(Though
a strong case can be made to consolidate the two schools, many believe
the Archdiocese will not do so because a nearby hospital may be eyeing
the land. With potentially millions more in abuse settlements, the
church may need the proceeds of that sale to pay those large amounts –
just as the Boston Archdiocese sold 99 acres of prime real estate to
Boston College to pay settlements. Closing schools to pay sex scandal
settlements just infuriates Catholics that much more, leading to a
vicious circle of yanking students from Catholic schools altogether).

And
why are the elementary schools not sending more students? Two reasons.
Many parents are choosing public schools because they don’t feel the
value of Catholic high school is justified by a $6,000 price tag. And of
course, there aren’t many students left in Catholic elementary schools
in the first place. Take Annunciation BVM in Irish Catholic Havertown.
It is slated to close, allegedly because there aren’t enough students in
attendance (though they hit the attendance number the diocese mandated
and are one of a handful of schools with a parish surplus). But a drive
through the town will instinctively tell you what any demographic
statistician already knows: the Catholic population is more than healthy
enough to see Annunciation at 80 percent capacity – or even more.

The
proof? In 1911, there were 68,000 students in Archdiocesan schools, out
of 525,000 Catholics (in a diocese, by the way, that was considerably
larger in size than the one today). A century later, we are back at the
same level of 68,000 (down from a peak of 250,000 in the 1960’s), yet
the smaller-sized Archdiocese now has almost 1.5 million Catholics.
Those numbers clearly show that, for most areas (inner city Philadelphia
being an exception), the Catholic population is absolutely large enough
to support most of the schools that closed.

Taking out of the equation those
parents who are angry or disenfranchised with the church (and its
schools), there still remains a substantial number of families that
would love nothing better than to enroll their children, but simply
cannot afford to do so.

Unfortunately, those people get walloped
with a triple wammy. They slog through life paying some of the highest
tax rates in the entire world, funding wholly ineffective governments at
all levels while getting relatively little value in return. They live
in one of the few countries in the Western world that does not assist
parents with nonpublic school education. And they are scared to death
about receiving a pink slip in an economy that is tanking further by the
day, with many banking what they earn rather than paying for the
desired education for their children.

Enter school choice in Pennsylvania. Or lack thereof.

In
1995, a statewide, comprehensive school choice bill failed by a single
vote. And while the church played an active role in that fight, it
refused to do the things necessary that would have pushed the
legislation across the finish line. Priests should have been preaching
from the pulpit, educating parishioners on the merits of school choice
and rallying the troops to contact their legislators (which can clearly
be done without jeopardizing their nonprofit status). But overall, they
didn’t.

They could have placed pro-school choice cards addressed
to representatives and senators in each pew, to be filled out during
Mass and collected before exiting church. But they didn’t.

And
they could have tied all of it together by playing hardball with
wishy-washy politicians, informing them in no uncertain terms that
school choice would be the one and only issue that many Catholics would
be voting on – and Catholics vote – in the next election. But they
didn’t.

Instead, too many left the battle to the “insiders,” and
guess what? Choice failed, and schools closed. A lot of them, most of
which would be open today had school choice passed.

Fast forward
to 2011. What did the church do? Support the weakest, most meaningless
education reform bill that would have neither helped educate nor reform
anything (Senate Bill 1). It was so restrictive that it would not have
affected one middle class family, but the final version (which bombed)
seemed to cater only to those Capricorns in the inner city who promised
to wear plaid pants on Tuesdays.

The Catholic Conference’s
rationale for supporting such a bad bill? Incrementalism was the only
way to go, and, after all, that was the only bill out there. Talk about a
losing mentality. Maybe if the Catholic leaders in their ivory towers
had the foresight to see what was coming down the pike with school
closings, they would have made a broad-based bill a reality and went
full-bore to accomplish passage. And since the 1995 bill was run with a
somewhat hostile legislature and still almost passed, it should have
been a no-brainer to aggressively push for a bill this time that would
also help the middle class, since the Governor and legislature were
infinitely more amenable to such a bill.

But they didn’t.



And they didn’t even push for an
expansion of the educational improvement tax credit (EITC) after school
choice failed, which, while not a panacea, would certainly help.

Senate
Bill 1, even had it passed, would not have saved one Catholic school.
But that was simply an alien concept to the Church’s political
braintrust, and the results speak for themselves.

As a result,
all people suffer the financial consequences. Of the over 24,000
students displaced, a significant number will now attend public school.
And since it costs over $15,000 per student, per year to educate a
public school student, property taxes are about to go through the roof,
which could not come at a worse time. Not only will more textbooks and
buses have to be purchased, but more teachers, more modular classrooms,
and, quite soon, more capital projects to accommodate the influx of
Catholic school students.

Some claim that school choice is a
bailout of the Catholic schools. Wrong. Since the money is directed to
the parent, not the school, it clearly isn’t. But it will be interesting
to see the reaction from critics of school choice (and Catholicism in
general) when they can no longer afford to pay their property taxes. As
the saying goes, what goes around comes around.

Where do we go from here?

There is a passage from a book written in the 1987 book, God’s Children, that best sums up why Catholic education must be saved:

“The
Catholic Church must forget its inferiority complex. No other religion
is reluctant to ask for what it wants. If we don’t ask, if we don’t
stand up and fight for what we believe in, we can’t expect to win. Life
is a street fight. We can roll up our sleeves and jump in, not certain
whether we’ll win or lose, or walk away, allowing a huge part of our
heritage to disappear ….

If we fail, what do we tell the ghosts?
The nuns and priests who for two centuries devoted their lives to the
cause? The men and women, like our parents, who broke their backs to
support their families yet somehow found a way to support our schools?
Do we tell them that it’s over, that their legacy has disappeared
forever? That we couldn’t hold on to what they gave us?”

And most haunting:

“I don’t want to tell my children and grandchildren that I was around when time ran out on Catholic education.”



Is it that time? Put it this way.
Anyone who believes that the closings are done is simply deluding
himself, for shutting down schools is a band-aid solution to a gaping
wound that will continue to hemorrage.

That is, unless the
Archdiocese of Philadelphia somehow finds a leader with the courage of
his convictions, someone willing to “roll up his sleeves” and fight for
what is right.

Archbishop Chaput, your 15 minutes are upon you, and the floor is yours. Godspeed!

A Simple Solution For Chester Upland

The Chester Upland School District — through bald mismanagement — is out of money and about to close.

Meanwhile, 49 Catholic schools in the Philadelphia area — including some near Chester-Upland — will be closing in June due to declining enrollment.

Hmmmm. What to do?

How about we take  that $18.7 million the state is scheduled to give Chester-Upland in June and divvy it up among the district’s students in the form of scholarships? The students can then use that money to attend whatever school they want which will likely include  St.
Gabriel in Norwood; Holy Savior-St. John Fisher in Lower Chichester; 
St. Francis de Sales in Aston and St. John Chrysostom in Nether
Providence, and of course the high schools Archbishop Prendergast and Monsignor Bonner. And some of these schools will  be saved.

A win-win for everybody.

But won’t Chester-Upland die? As I said, a win-win for everybody.

Somebody will say that’s unfair because it excludes “middle class” students. OK. Any community that wants to close it’s district and use state vouchers  to educate its children should get the same chance.

Now, it’s fair.

 

PSEA Republicans

PSEA Republicans — Tea Party activist Bob Guzzardi has compiled a list of Republican legislators that have accepted contributions from the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA).

The PSEA is the union that represents most public school teachers in the state and, ironically, is very likely the most anti-child, anti-education and anti-senior citizen organization in the state.

Here is Bob’s list — with his comments — of those who accepted contributions in 2010, which was the last legislative election year:

Senator Dominic Pileggi Senate Majority Leader what does that tell you?

HOUSE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE  $5,0000    MAY 6, 2010

Sam Smith Republican Speaker of the House

Republican House Majority Leader Mike Turzai.

Bill Adolph Chair of House Appropriations Delco  elected in 1989

Matt Baker northeast Penna

Karen Boback – she is major recipient of PSEA money and a former school teacher.

Mike Vereb  Montgomery County – He is in House leadership.

Chris Ross – from southern Chester County, very, very liberal

Marguerite Quinn  Bucks County, part of BucksCo Establishment as you know

Nick Micozzie   Uber Hack Delaware County, entrenched and entwined with Establishment. Has been in office since 1979.

Rick Geist  Transportation Committee Chair  Blair County has been in office since 1979 also

Bernie O’Neill from Bucks, like Marguerite Quinn

Gene DiGirolamo of Bucks County  integral to unions and O’Neill/Quinn BucksCo RINO Republican

Glenn Grell   Cumberland County

Jim Marshall   defeated Mike Veon

John Taylor Philadelphia, need I say more

Denny O’Brien  another Philadelphia phony R

Ron Miller  this is a shock. He is supposed to introduce Right to Work Republican York County

Senator Jake Corman, chair of Senate Appropriations Committee and interested in running for US Senate against Bob Casey.

Senator John Rafferty Chester DelCo closely allied with Sen. Pileggi

Senator Pat Browne Lehigh County

Senator Stewart Greenleaf Montgomery County very nice man, very well intentioned man AND very, very liberal man

Senator Ted Erickson DelCo and very close ally of Senator Pileggi

Note the number in leadership positions.

And some wonder why even with Republicans in charge we can’t end fire bad teachers or end teacher strikes.

Thank you, Bob. Click here for a link to Bob’s file where he includes his sourcing.

Or you can do your own search at http://www.campaignfinance.state.pa.us/pages/CFReportSearch.aspx

Remember to set search type to “Contribution” and to manually set the date range.

PSEA Republicans

PSEA Republicans

Blame For School Closings Belongs To Catholics

The Philadelphia Archdiocese announced, yesterday, that the 49 of its schools will be shut forever come June.

The schools are Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast high schools in Upper Darby, and elementary schools Annunciation BVM in Haverford Township; St. Cyril of Alexandria in East Lansdowne; Our Lady of Fatima in Secane, Ridley Township; St. Gabriel in Norwood; Holy Savior-St. John Fisher in Lower Chichester;  St. Francis de Sales in Aston and St. John Chrysostom in Nether Providence.

Some of their students will go to other Catholic schools. Others will enter the public school system further increasing the tax burden on property owners in those unlucky districts.

Who is to blame? A lot, maybe most, of the parents who send their kids to these Catholic schools are dyed-in-the wool Democrats who’d rather have a toenail ripped out than vote Republican, as are a lot, maybe most, of the teachers at these places. They cannot even begin to get their minds around the fact that their party is the puppet of the PSEA, the union that represents most Pennsylvania public school teachers (and nurses and librarians etc.) and that fights like a rabid badger for every penny of the education budget regardless of who it hurts.

They cannot even start to fathom that their party is the toy of the trial lawyers who get warm and fuzzy at the notion of seeing criminal acts treated as civil torts so their wallets get fatter and who cares if all it does is harm the schools and hospitals and turn the victims into male prostitutes.

Who is to blame? Catholics, look in the mirror.

Unemployment Benefits For Filthy Rich

Unemployment Benefits For Filthy Rich — The headlines last week were filled with outrage over the revelation that former Philadelphia School Superintendent Arlene Ackerman has filed for $573 a week in unemployment compensation, the maximum amount in Pennsylvania.

Ms. Ackerman, who was contracted to receive a $348,000 salary through 2014, was bought out of it for a $905,000 lump-sum payment plus $83,000 for unused vacation and personal days.

In other words, her job performance was not exactly satisfactory.

Leaving aside the point that the buyout means that Ms. Ackerman is being employed to basically sit on her butt and watch TV for the next three years, why should anyone be able to get $573 a week in unemployment comp?

Is it to allow our dainty betters to live in the style to which they have become accustomed?

Sorry, that’s not the way most of us think the social safety net is supposed to work.

The idea of an unemployment safety net is that a working stiff with a run of bad luck can still feed his kids and keep a roof over their heads until he finds another job. Nobody is against that.

But if you’ve been pulling down a good income and lose your job you presumably have assets that you can start selling off before you come to the rest of us — or at least to those business owners still trying to save their existing employees — with your hand out.

My proposal — cap the benefits at $150 per week; and  add  a $50-per month SNAP (food stamp) card, along with  an exemption from the residential property tax.

Also, cut the time for receiving them from 99 weeks to 16 weeks.

The cost of unemployment insurance would drop drastically for employers. This means it will cost them less to hire people which means they will start hiring people and very likely increase their pay.

What could possibly be the objection?

Government would lose power?

Unemployment Benefits For Filthy Rich

Anti-Taxpayer Write-In Campaign Fizzles In Pa.

An attempt by the teachers’ union  for a guerrilla victory in the West Chester Area School Board race was found to have fizzled when the dust cleared and the votes were counted.

When conservative Republicans running on a platform that put concern for elderly or unemployed property taxpayers  ahead of teacher-union interests won in the spring primary,  union supporters launched an unconventional and expensive write-in campaign to take the board.

The West Chester Area is a strong Republican area and winning on the GOP ballot is considered  a shoo-in for a municipal election.

In fact, three of the candidates — Karen Miller,Linda Raileanu and Maureen Snook — also won on the Democrat ticket as cross-filing is allowed in Pennsylvania school board races.

There were two others on the Democrat ballot — Wayne Burton, who was endorsed by the Democrat Party, and Ted Diehl, who called himself an independent and was not endorsed. Neither was part of the write-in campaign.

On Election Day, Nov. 8, 43,665 write-in votes were cast divided among six candidates, including one in a race to fill the remaining two years of the term originally won by John Wingerter, who resigned, and now held by Ms. Miller, who was running for a four-year term.

It was very likely the largest write-in campaign ever held for a school board election in Pennsylvania.

When the results were certified, however, only one of the insurgents, Sue Tiernan, managed to win sneaking in fifth for the final four-year seat.

The final count for the four-year seats is:Ms.  Miller, 9,206; Maureen Snook, 8,958; Linda Raileanu, 8,505; Vince
Murphy, 7,945; Ms. Tiernan, 7,690; Gary Bevilacqua, 7,550; Galen Plona,
7,497; Rick Swalm, 7,453; Spencer Virta, 6,979; Antonia Keg, 6,785;  Burton, 3,568;  Diehl, 3,253.

The other write-in candidates were Bevilacqua; Swalm, who is  incumbent board president; Virta;  and Ms. Keg.  Bevilacqua and Virta were the ones who did not have teaching backgrounds.

Plona was the taxpayer candidate who did not make the cut.

In the two-year race, conservative Ed Coyle easily beat Jim Smith, an incumbent who changed his mind about stepping down,  9,658 votes to the
6,413 write-in votes.

The election has resulted in at least five pro-taxpayer directors on the nine-person board.

Do Vouchers Right Or Not At All



There is an age-old adage: if you’re going to do something, do it right – or don’t do it at all.

Based
on poll results exclusively obtained first by Freindly Fire, nowhere is
that more applicable than in the fight for school vouchers in
Pennsylvania. According to the Pulse Opinion Research poll conducted on
behalf of UNITE PA, which surveyed 500 likely voters across the state,
the majority of Pennsylvanians prefer that any school choice program be
open to all students (or at least most of the middle class), as opposed
to just low income, predominantly inner city students. This result is
not surprising on any level, and, undeniably, leads to five rock solid
conclusions:

1) The middle class realizes that ALL schools need
improvement, and competition through choice is the best way to achieve
that objective;

2) Pennsylvanians, by a whopping 78 to 9 margin, favor a broad-based choice program;

3)
If a comprehensive choice program isn’t offered, citizens would prefer
an expansion of the EITC educational tax credit — by a 3 to 1 ratio;

4)
The reason voucher legislation failed in the spring, and in all
likelihood won’t pass now, isn’t due to opposition to school choice, but
because the senate refuses to consider a broader, more inclusive bill,
and therefore:

5) If a suburban or rural legislator supports
vouchers only for low income families, while their constituents would be
left out in the cold without receiving a penny, they do so at their own
peril. A full 40 percent of likely voters stated that they will be
“less likely” to support that lawmaker in his or her next election based
on that vote.

The message of this poll is clear: do vouchers the
right way, or don’t do them at all. And since the senate has already
passed a low income version by the slimmest of margins, with its leaders
stating that’s all they will do, expect the voucher bill to die what
may be its final political death, and look for the EITC expansion to
pass as a stand-alone bill (which it did in the Spring by a virtually
unanimous 190-7 bipartisan vote on Rep. Tom Quigley’s House Bill 1330).

Failure
to act responsibly will leave the GOP politically vulnerable, and,
infinitely more important, abandon yet another generation of
Pennsylvania’s future.

Since last January, Republican Senator
Jeff Piccola has been trying to pass legislation offering school
vouchers only to students in underperforming schools who meet low income
requirements. Despite crafting Senate Bill 1 (SB 1) during the Rendell
Administration (when there was a Democratic State House and an
anti-choice governor), Piccola never bothered to broaden the bill to
reflect the new ten-seat Republican majority in the House, and
pro-school choice Governor Tom Corbett.

Piccola, along with
Democratic co-sponsor Senator Tony Williams, ran the bus over anyone who
dared question why SB 1 was being treated as hallowed legislation,
scoffing at — but not answering — queries as to why no attempt was
made to broaden the bill, given the favorable legislative climate. In
the process, many SB 1 proponents demonized long-time political allies
for their “brazen” attempt to improve a badly flawed education reform
bill that would neither educate nor reform.

That intransigence
directly led to vouchers dying on the vine in June. Despite repeated
assurances that it would pass the Senate, it was never brought to the
floor for a vote. Piccola’s excuse for not running the bill was that the
House wasn’t embracing SB 1 with the same fervor, yet the truth is that
he didn’t even have the votes in his own chamber.

Last month, a
watered-down version of SB 1 finally passed the senate after much
arm-twisting, but as the poll shows, it’s back to Square One, meaning
that SB 1 faces a tough road ahead. Many folks in Pennsylvania view
vouchers favorably, but when they learn that the only voucher bill being
considered is one that will never impact them, their support plummets.

Many
traditional supporters of school choice have had SB 1 sold to them as
the be-all-and-end-all. But the huge irony is that these people in turn
become the biggest detractors of SB 1 upon learning what the legislation
does, and, more importantly, doesn’t do. From Catholic school advocates
to Tea Partiers to everyday parents, the majority of those who favor
school choice become irritated, if not downright angry, after
discovering that in SB 1, a full seven years after enactment, middle
income students would still be excluded. Because of this, many look at
SB 1 as nothing more than yet another targeted entitlement program for
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

The results of the Pulse Opinion
Poll are so clear cut that it’s a good bet many House members on the
fence will now be moved to oppose the voucher aspect, instead calling
for other educational reform measures to be considered individually
rather than part of an SB 1 package. Charter school reforms, teacher
evaluations, and the EITC should be debated on their merits and not held
hostage by certain senators hell-bent on ramming an ineffectual voucher
bill down the House’s throat — or all-else be damned.

And if
the House decides to eliminate the voucher and significantly expand the
EITC, what then? Will Piccola once again call that legislation “dead on
arrival” and kill it upon its return to the senate?

And if so,
will the House leaders do the right thing and relegate Piccola to the
dustbin of irrelevancy by simply mandating that the EITC expansion be
part of the 2012 budget?

It’s time to stop playing games.
Pennsylvania students are 42nd in SAT scores, ranking low in literacy,
graduation rates and those attending college. Their performance on the
National Assessment of Education Progress exam has not improved. And
most startling, nearly HALF of all 11th graders are not proficient in
math and reading. This cannot be attributed to just the poor-performing
urban schools pulling down scores, but is testament to an
across-the-board educational failure.

Advocating school choice
for only low-income students results in the default perception that
education is adequate everywhere else, which is not remotely accurate.
We cannot afford to waste another decade, forsaking our children — our
future — because some choose to ignore the widespread failure
occurring on a daily basis.

The poll clearly shows what common
sense already dictates: only competition can begin to reverse decades of
educational failure. Comprehensive school choice provides that
free-market solution, and, if passed, would be a model for the nation.
But since stubbornness, personal agendas and lack of political will are
still prevalent in the Senate, let’s hope the House of Representatives
acts responsibly and does the right thing for our children.

As Voltaire said, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

And jettisoning a bad voucher program while passing other meaningful reforms is a very good start.

Pa. Senate Passes School Choice Bill

The Pennsylvania State Senate, yesterday, Oct. 26, passed SB 1, 27-22 sending it to the State House.

The vote was mostly along party-lines in the Republican-controlled institution with Democrat Daylin Leach (D-17) leading the opposition with claims that the bill will take money from poor school districts. He failed to note, however, that the money taken will then been given to the families of the poor children. He attempted to add an amendment prohibiting private schools from discriminating due to sexual orientation. It failed.

Democrat Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, however, who represents the 8th District which consists of a large section of southwest Philadelphia and a large section of southeast Delaware County, made an impassioned defense of the bill

Republicans who voted against the bill were Stewart Greenleaf of the 12th District; Lisa Baker of the 20th District;  John Gordner of the 27th District; Pat Vance of the 31st District; and Elder Vogel of the 47th District.

Democrats who voted for the bill were Williams; LeAnna Washington of the 4th District; and Andy Dinniman of the 19th District.

Not voting was Republican John Pippy of the 37th District.

The bill offers vouchers ranging from $5,765 to $13,905 to families with incomes of $29,000 whose children attend the 5 percent worst performing schools in the state that would allow them to  transfer their children to private or parochial schools. In the second year, the vouchers would also be offered to low-income students already attending private schools.

The bill also raises of the limit on the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (E.I.T.C.) from $75 million to $100 million for next two school years to $125 million for  2014-2015. Children from middle class families in all school districts are eligible for  E.I.T.C. scholarships.

Gov. Tom Corbett will almost certainly sign the bill if the House should pass it.

 

School Choice Can Save Pa.’s Education System


As we all know, weather forecasters are wrong much of the time. But you can’t hold them responsible for that wholly unpredictable icy blast felt this week. After all, it was hell freezing over. That’s right. Seems Dante’s Inferno took a dip in the cold, not coincidentally, at the exact same time that former Philadelphia School District Superintendent Arlene Ackerman–a 43-year fixture in the public education establishment–called for comprehensive school choice as the primary means to improve education.

Calling access to a quality education “the civil rights battle of our generation,” Ackerman penned a column in the Inquirer in which she lamented that it took her entire career to realize that true reforms would never originate from inside the system. Her words describe the problem perfectly:

“Real reform will never come from within the system because too many powers that be (the teachers’ union, politicians, consultants, vendors, etc.) have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo that is failing our children.”

Ackerman then offered the solution that, while obvious to anyone with common sense, has been thus far impossible to achieve.

“Meaningful education reform must be forced upon the system from outside by giving parents of all income levels real choices about where their children go to school. That requires giving parents comprehensive school choice … ”

Ackerman also advocates the expansion of charter schools, which, while a good idea, is but a small part of the overall solution, since the waiting list for these successful institutions is 30,000 strong.

The major reason charters are light years ahead of regular public schools, as Ackerman correctly points out, is two-fold. They are not required to follow many of the burdensome and counterproductive regulations imposed upon public schools, and, more important, teachers are hired–and fired–based on merit.

Hmmm. Holding people accountable for their job performance. What a novel idea. If only we did that in other jobs. Oh wait. We do. In the private sector.

That’s right. Despite the comedy routine of certain folks who have nothing to “Occupy” their time other than railing against the evils of competition and free enterprise, the private sector is in fact what built America into the greatest, most benevolent power the world has ever known.

Without question, though, the United States is slipping backwards, being dragged into malaise and misery. And that decline, more than anything, can be traced to one thing: the demise of education.

For decades, all efforts to improve public education have been squashed by teachers’ union bosses, whose loyalty was to their fiefdoms and the almighty paycheck–both funded entirely by taxpayers who were duped into believing their children were receiving the best education possible.

Whenever questions were raised about the lack of accountability and stagnant or declining standardized test scores, the blame game began. “Parents don’t put in the time with their kids’ homework … It’s society’s fault …There are too many students in each class.” And, of course, the most common one of all: “We need more money.”

Undoubtedly, some parents don’t put in as much time as they should, and we live in an ever more complex society, but these simply cannot be used as excuses for inadequate teaching. In the private sector, when your job becomes tougher, you either meet the challenge, or hit the door. Adapt, improvise, overcome–or go home. Nowhere should that be more applicable than when teachers are entrusted with our children, indeed, our future.

And the “not enough money, too many kids” excuse is a myth. That’s not opinion, but cold, hard fact. Pennsylvania spends $26 billion per year (that’s billion, with a “b”) on education–more per student than 39 other states–an amount that has doubled since 1996. Despite a drop of 27,000 students over the last 10 years, the public school system has added 33,000 employees in that time. Therefore, by definition, increased funding, more personnel and decreased class size have not improved student achievement.

The results for all that money and smaller class size? Pennsylvania students are 42nd in SAT scores, and rank low in literacy, graduation rates and those going to college. Their performance on the National Assessment of Education Progress exam has not improved. And most startling, nearly half of all 11th graders are not proficient in math and reading (per PSSA standardized test scores). This cannot be attributed to just the poor-performing urban schools pulling down scores, but is testament to an across-the-board educational failure.

Bottom line: It’s not just that the status quo isn’t working. It has completely failed. Based on that dismal picture, Ackerman’s advocacy of school choice–the “change that must come from outside the school system”–couldn’t have been offered at a better time.

*****

There are two elements of Ackerman’s revelations that are worth noting.

1) The implementation of school choice, more than any other reform, is imperative if we are not to lose another generation. The way we did things in the past hasn’t worked, and what we continue to do isn’t having an impact. Unless we treat education the same way as we do every other successful institution in America–business, sports, entertainment, the military–then we might as well raise the white flag of defeat.

Most western nations have a form of school choice, and the results speak volumes. Compared to our 30 biggest global competitors, America’s students rank near the bottom of the pack in every category.

2) Isn’t it a shame that no one in the public education establishment has the courage to speak the truth while they are still on the inside? Don’t get me wrong. It is wonderfully refreshing to hear Ackerman’s sentiments, and to see that she has finally seen the light on what must be done to improve public education.

But it is a sad note that revelations like hers must come after her departure. Just imagine how different things could have been had the Philadelphia School Superintendent come out of the gate advocating school choice. While certainly not a slam dunk, it would have infinitely increased the chances for the adoption of choice, particularly since a majority of the legislature and Governor Tom Corbett also favor it.

A school choice victory is still possible, as we are told it is a top legislative priority. While it won’t be easy, especially given the teachers’ unions’ huge political war chests generated by forced union dues, maybe, just maybe, the conversion of Arlene Ackerman from the Dark Side of Public Education might be the spark needed to push across the finish line.

Only then will the dream of so many, including Ackerman, begin to come true: “all children having access to a quality public school education.”