The Republican state senator has been appointed to the Senate committee on economic development. Laughlin was a key vote in committee against a bill that would create a program similar to vouchers.

State Sen. Dan Laughlin has left the Senate Education Committee, where he was a key vote opposing a school choice bill that the state teachers' union estimates would cost the Erie School District at least $14.7 million.

Laughlin, of Millcreek Township, R-49th District, on Wednesday was appointed to the state Senate committee on economic development and left the Education Committee, his office said in a statement.

His replacement on the Education Committee, according to the committee's website, is Sen. Richard Alloway, a Republican from Chambersburg in Franklin County. Alloway is a co-sponsor of the school choice bill, Senate Bill 2, that would create education savings accounts, similar to vouchers.

Senate Bill 2 has failed to get out of the Senate Education Committee partly because of Laughlin's opposition. He is one of two Republicans on the GOP-majority committee who voted against the bill when it died in committee on Oct. 24 in a 6-6 vote.

The Education Committee met again on Tuesday with Senate Bill 2 on the agenda but did not vote. Laughlin remained on the committee despite a request he said he made about a month ago to leave the committee for the state Senate Committee on Community, Economic and Recreational Development, to which he was appointed on Wednesday.

The newly constituted Senate Education Committee has not set a new date for a vote on Senate Bill 2, though a meeting could occur on or after Jan. 22, when the Senate returns for a full day of business in Harrisburg after adjourning on Wednesday. With Alloway's support, Senate Bill 2 would get out of the committee and go to the floor of the GOP-controlled Senate for a vote.

The bill then would have to pass the GOP-controlled House. Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, said through a spokesman that he does not support the legislation, signaling a likely veto.

Laughlin's chief of staff has said Laughlin would oppose Senate Bill 2 if it comes up for a vote on the Senate floor, and the office said Laughlin's desire to serve on the economic development committee had nothing to do with his vote against Senate Bill 2 while on the Education Committee.

And Laughlin, elected in November 2016, said he got on the Education Committee mainly to help the Erie School District secure $14 million in additional annual state funding. The General Assembly approved the increased funding with budget votes in late October.

"I appreciate the opportunity to serve on this committee," Laughlin, in a statement Wednesday, said of his appointment to the economic development committee.

"When I joined the Senate my primary goal was to bring financial relief to the Erie School District. Thankfully, we were able to accomplish that. My main focus now is to bring jobs back to Erie and the best place for me to have a strong influence in those matters is to serve as a member of this important committee."

The president pro tempore of the state Senate, Joe Scarnati, a Republican from Jefferson County, appointed Laughlin to the economic development committee.

The education savings accounts — the key element of Senate Bill 2 — would allow students in the bottom 15 percent of the state's public schools, in terms of academic performance, to use public money to attend nonpublic schools and buy school supplies, such as textbooks. Several Erie School District schools would be on the low-performing list.

The money for the accounts would come from public funding that would otherwise go to a student’s home school district. The Erie School District would lose $14.7 million a year if a third of its students who would be eligible for the savings accounts used them, according to the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

The $14.7 million figure, by coincidence, is close to the $14 million in additional annual state funding that Laughlin helped secure for the Erie School District.

Ed Palattella can be reached at 870-1813 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNpalattella.