Union Party Kills Charter Reform

Yesterday, I noted that despite watering down a proposed charter school reform bill, legislators were still hearing from government union bosses and other special interest groups that oppose parental choice were still barraging legislators with myths about charter schools.

To the surprise of many, including me, the state House adjourned last night without even voting on the measure, which had already passed the Senate and been largely agreed to by legislative negotiators. Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi explained to Capitolwire (paywall):

Pileggi said, “We negotiated starting back in June through the summer into the fall, had an agreement with the governor and the House Republican leadership. “But PSEA,” the state’s largest teachers union, “put on a strong push and it never came up for a vote. The PSEA and the PSBA were against the provisions that would allow charters to operate more efficiently and expand in their operations, other than that general philosophical objection, I don’t know what line or section or sub-paragraph caused the problem.”

This failure to get meaningful charter school reform that empowers parents is but the latest example of what we’ve been saying: It is not the Republican Party that controls Pennsylvania politics, but the Union Party, and it will continue to thwart much good public policy until the Taxpayer Party takes back control of our government.