Support School Choice in Pennsylvania

Over the past ten years, enrollment in PA public schools has declined, while spending and staff have grown by leaps and bounds. According to the Commonwealth Foundation, taxpayers now spend an outrageous $14,420 per pupil each year, while at the same time student performance has stagnated. Test scores have barely changed and PA continues to rank near the bottom of the nation in combined SAT scores.

The powerful teachers unions would have us believe that ever smaller classes and more spending is the answer, but the numbers speak for themselves. Simply throwing more money at this problem won’t make it go away.

That’s why we need to support SB 1405: The Opportunity Scholarship Act.

and sign the petition today.

SB 1405 would provide more children the opportunity to leave behind their failing schools and attend school of their parents’ choice, and at lower costs than the state is currently spending. School choice puts education back in the hands of parents, where it belongs – not in the hands of government bureacrats. The plan also injects some much needed competition to the virtual monopoly run by the public school system.

In other areas with struggling schools, school choice through scholarships like this have helped revitalize the education systems and has been the catalyst of major reforms by creating competition in the education marketplace and forcing public schools to expect more from teachers and staff.

For too long, the solution to fixing public education has always been more money and higher taxes with few positive results. The current economic downturn means we have to look beyond the status quo and make real changes.

SB 1405 has bipartisan support and would actually save taxpayers money! This is a bill we need our legislators and candidates to get behind.

and sign the petition. Then ask your local candidates to take as stand on this important issue by signing the “Give Parents a Voice Pledge.”