Will the “Year of School Choice” Come to PA?

Today’s Wall Street Journal has an editorial that begins as follows:

School may be out for the summer, but school choice is in, as states across the nation have moved to expand education opportunities for disadvantaged kids. This year is shaping up as the best for reformers in a very long time.

Indeed; as the editors point out, 13 states have passed school choice legislation so far this year. This includes most recently Ohio and North Carolina But then comes the pain.  They write:

One notable exception is Pennsylvania, where Governor Tom Corbett and the Republican state legislature bungled passage of a state-wide voucher bill. Mr. Corbett promised during his election campaign last year that he’d make the reform a priority. Instead, Republican legislative leaders dithered for most of the spring, and Mr. Corbett got engaged very late. The session ended last week without passage of the voucher bill and several other school choice measures, including an increase in charter school authorizers. The Pennsylvania State Education Association is no doubt delighted by the failure.

It’s correct, of course, that school choice has not yet passed here in Pennsylvania, this isn’t the first time the Journal has bemoaned that fact, and they’re surely right that the PSEA is grinning right now.  But make no mistake:  The battle to throw a lifeline to kids trapped in failing, violent schools that are bankrupting taxpayers is far from over.  Gov. Corbett promised as much in his interview with CF’s Matt Brouillette on The BOX, and we fully intend to help him keep that promise when the General Assembly returns to town in September.  To those at the Journal and beyond who are disheartened, despair not, and let’s fight on!