December 2017 Church & State - December 2016

Private School Subsidy Fails In Pa. Legislature

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A bill designed to funnel public money from public schools into a private school voucher-like program failed to make it out of a Pennsylvania Senate committee.

The bill would have allowed parents of students who attend public schools deemed “underperforming” to use taxpayer funds to send their children to private schools through Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). With a 6-6 tie, the bill failed in the Senate Education Committee, reported the Allentown Morning Call.

The bill’s failure was lauded by public school advocates.

“Vouchers don’t help students learn, they drain money from public schools, and they don’t hold private schools accountable for how they would spend the money or help their students learn,” Dolores McCracken, the president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), said in a press release.

Critics argue that ESAs are designed to drain taxpayer money from public schools. PSEA calculated that the school districts impacted by the bill would have lost nearly $50 million annually.

BREAKING NEWS

Americans United & the National Women’s Law Center file suit to challenge Missouri’s abortion bans.

Abortion bans violate the separation of church and state. Americans United and the National Women’s Law Center—the leading experts in religious freedom and gender justice—have joined forces with thirteen clergy from six faith traditions to challenge Missouri’s abortion bans as unconstitutionally imposing one narrow religious doctrine on everyone.


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