FreedomWorks Mobilizes Support to Advance New Pennsylvania School Choice Bill, HB 2468

Harrisburg, PA – After months of discussion among members of the Pennsylvania House Representatives, Rep. Jim Christina introduced HB 2468, a school choice bill meant to improve Pennsylvania’s failing public school system. 

FreedomWorks believes that school choice bill HB 2468 is the most effective option to educational reform on the table, and plans to work with parents, teachers, and activists from across the Commonwealth to make sure it passes through the full House and Senate and becomes law.

Rep. Christina’s bill, HB 2468, will enhance the extremely successful Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program and establish an Educational Improvement Scholarship Program (EISC) which is designed to help children trapped in Pennsylvania’s lowest performing schools.

The EISC program will provide $100 million in tax credits to organizations who make contributions to fund low-income students currently enrolled in low-performing and failing schools.

“House bill 2468 is an important, free-market approach to reforming historically underperforming schools.  We applaud this effort as a step in the right direction for Pennsylvania’s schools,” commented FreedomWorks Pennsylvania Field Director Ana Puig. 

FreedomWorks has been engaged in a lengthy grassroots campaign to advance school choice in Pennsylvania over the past two years.  Mobilizing a network of 35,000 activists, FreedomWorks waged a grassroots campaign targeting lawmakers with over 22,000 yard signs, 160,000 door hangers, thousands of phone calls and weekly office visits. 

“Our activists have come together to support these important reforms.  They have worked tirelessly to get this bill passed, to them failure is not an option,” added Puig.

Pennsylvania spends just shy of $14,000 per student per year, yet less than half of its students are proficient in reading and math. According to NAEP, (National Assessment of Educational Progress) which tests fourth and eighth grade students on reading and math, only 37 percent of 4th graders score proficient while only 40 percent of 8th graders score proficient.

For more information about the FreedomWorks school choice campaign in Pennsylvania, please visit www.FreedomWorks.org, or contact Press Secretary Jackie Bodnar at Jbodnar@freedomworks.org.