, held up by disagreement over a school voucher program.
The House is now preparing a series of joint committee hearings to study the issue. They’ll likely take place in the early fall, said Rep. Peter Schweyer , who chairs the House Education Committee. “We never imagined anyone would be so wildly irresponsible as to put a school voucher program in the budget without any type of public hearing or any type of exploration,” said Susan Spicka, the director of public school advocacy group Education Voters of Pennsylvania. “Now it’s time for a conversation, and I think that’s what Pennsylvanians deserve: a conversation about who benefits from the current [tax credit scholarship programs].
Many private schools themselves support vouchers, because it’s a way to increase enrollment and recruit more students who, in theory, could not afford to attend on their own.Public school advocates and teachers’ unions fiercely oppose any school voucher programs for a number of reasons.