Editor's note: This story was updated soon after it was published with new information that a proxy vote hasn't been counting, affecting the final total. You can read the story at this link.

Legislation is gaining traction in the state Senate that would bring the latest form of school choice gaining popularity across the nation to Pennsylvania.

By a 6-5 vote, the Senate Education Committee approved a bill, sponsored by Sen. John DiSanto, R-Dauphin County, that would establish education savings accounts for students who live in attendance areas served by low-achieving public schools.

"There's a lot of difference of opinions but I think everybody agrees what we're doing now isn't working. Something needs to be done and this is my answer to that," DiSanto said.

Since 2011, five states have enacted laws allowing for education savings accounts that mostly serve targeted populations of students, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. However, more than a dozen and a half other states are considering legislation to add them to their school choice menu.

Pennsylvania offers parents the option of enrolling their children in traditional school district schools, brick-and-mortar and cyber charter schools, and for those eligible, a business-funded scholarship made possible through a tax credit program for students to attend non-public schools, in addition to private and parochial schools and homeschooling.

The program DiSanto's bill envisions would supplement that array of choices.

Committee Chairman John Eichelberger said it clearly is a priority of the Senate Republican leadership based on it being given the bill number of Senate Bill 2 and as evidenced by Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, attending the meeting specifically to ensure it had the votes to win committee approval.

But Gov. Tom Wolf takes a different view about it. His spokesman J.J. Abbott said, "

Governor Wolf opposes vouchers and any program that diverts state funding away from Pennsylvania's public schools. This proposal would cost the commonwealth and school districts hundreds of millions of dollars, which would ultimately be passed onto taxpayers."



To be eligible for an account under this bill, parents would have to withdraw their child from the public school to receive the statewide average per-pupil state funding, currently about $5,700, annually in an account to be held in the state Treasury. Special education students would receive more depending on the severity of their disability. Money leftover in these accounts upon graduation could be applied to post-secondary education.

Students currently enrolled in private or parochial schools would be ineligible to participate, DiSanto said.

The dollars put into an education savings account could only be used for a Department of Education-approved expenses including attending a private or parochial school, uniforms, higher education tuition, textbooks and curriculum, software, testing and industry certifications, and therapies for students with disabilities.

While critics raise concern about this program siphoning money from school districts, that wasn't the rationale behind the dissenting votes cast by two of the senators.

Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, who has been supportive of school choice programs in the past, said he wasn't involved in drafting the legislation and not prepared to be supportive at this time.

Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-Chester County, said he is unconvinced that education savings account will make a difference for students in the low-performing schools that have remained in the bottom 15 percent for decades and would prefer a full and open discussion about what might.

The legislation targets the education savings accounts to students who live in and currently attend or are about to enroll as a kindergartner or first-grader a public school identified by the state Department of Education as performing in the bottom 15 percent statewide.

The 2017-18 list of the low-performers (see below) includes nearly 400 schools; some are located in Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties. Students who previously participated in the program also are eligible.

"With a bill like this, we can get the kids out of the very bad situation that they're in. Parents want to see the best for them. Get them into a private school. Get them other special needs they have - tutoring, therapy and all the things ... and give them a chance to get out and succeed," said Sen. John Eichelberger, R-Blair County.

But Pennsylvania State Education Association President Dolores McCracken called it a dangerous bill in that it doesn't help students learn, drains money from public schools, and failed to hold private schools accountable for how they would spend the public funds.

"It's extremely disappointing that state senators think voting on tuition voucher schemes should be a priority for the General Assembly. This bill is just as bad as all of the other voucher ideas that have been floated over the past two decades and failed to pass - and it could cut more than $500 million from school districts that need state funding the most," McCracken said in a statement.

Education Voters of PA executive director Susan Spicka also found the committee's vote troubling for several reasons.

Without income limits for eligibility and given the amount of money deposited in the accounts which would not be enough to cover the full tuition cost of a private school, the ones who would benefit are well-off families. It also would enshrine discrimination, provides limited oversight and accountability, and likely would grow to include more schools beyond the lowest performing ones.

Eichelberger said he wasn't surprised by the pushback from the "establishment" which tends to oppose anything that involves change.

There are upsides to this program for school districts, DiSanto has said. It allows a student's home district to keep any state funding in excess of the statewide per-pupil average and it would lower class sizes, allowing district students to receive more individualized attention.

Other key points about his proposal:

Money could roll over in an account from one year to the next. Treasury would audit the funds and accounts would be frozen if funds are misused and the matter would be referred for criminal prosecution. A civil penalty of three times what was in the account before the fraudulent use occurred would be imposed. That parent would be disqualified from future participation in this program.

Schools that enroll students with education savings accounts would be required to have the student take the state exams or a nationally norm-referenced test to measure their learning gains in math and reading and release the results if sufficient numbers of students are enrolled so the results wouldn't be individually identifiable.

There is no income limit for eligibility to receive an education savings account.

Once a student has an education savings account, they remain in the program regardless of whether their home school district's performance improves.

Students would not be permitted to participate in the education savings account program and be eligible for a tax credit scholarship through either the Educational Improvement Tax Credit program or the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit program. The Opportunity Scholarship program is targeted to the same population of students as this program would serve.

Money also could not be used to enroll the student in another public school, including charter schools.

People have mentioned to him the various failed attempts over the past 20 or so years to push a school voucher plan through the Legislature, DiSanto said. But he remains undeterred.

"It's a different world. Think how the world has changed from 20 years ago. Cell phones and technology and nothing has changed in the education game and we continue to struggle to educate our children," DiSanto said. "We need to change the way we're doing things."

2017-18 list of schools performing in the bottom 15 percent by PennLive on Scribd