We reported extensively on the saga of Lifeline Scholarships in Pennsylvania, school choice scholarships that would allow poor kids in the state’s lowest-performing 15% of school districts to go to private schools. Governor Shapiro campaigned on it, but then killed it as a sop to the teacher union.
But Pennsylvania’s legislature did strike a deal yesterday, passing a measure that includes a $150 million expansion in the state’s tax credit scholarship programs, while leaving the Democrats’ top desire – a paid family leave program – on the cutting room floor.
\Our friends at the Commonwealth Foundation report:
“Pennsylvania scholarship organizations awarded 77,640 K–12 scholarships through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) in the 2021–22 school year. The average 2021–22 scholarship amount was $2,583 for EITC and $1,853 for OSTC.”
We will celebrate this as a partial victory, and the winners are the as many as 63,000 kids whose applications in the scholarship tax credit programs were rejected. Hip. Hip. Hooray.
What a great way to cap off the best year ever for school choice.
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And next year we will all fight for the Lifeline Scholarships.