School voucher debate returns to Harrisburg

An effort to create a private school voucher program using state tax dollars has new life in Harrisburg, thanks to a Pennsylvania Senate Education Committee vote Tuesday to advance a proposal designed to allow students in low-performing public schools to use state-funded scholarships to attend a private school of their choice. 

The bill, Senate Bill 10, was reported out of committee with an 8-3 vote; Democratic state Sen. Anthony H. Williams joined Republicans to support the legislation. 

The bill would create the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success Scholarship Program, which would provide scholarships ranging between $2,500 and $15,000 for eligible students. To be eligible for the program, a student must be a resident of Pennsylvania, have yet to receive a high school diploma and live in the attendance boundary of a school deemed to be low-achieving. 

Under the proposal, students would receive the following scholarship amounts for the 2026-27 school year:

• Students in half-day kindergarten would receive $2,500
• Students in full-day kindergarten through eighth grade would receive $5,000
• Students in grades 9 through 12 would receive $10,000
• Students with special needs would receive $15,000

Private school scholarships, which are also commonly referred to as vouchers, have been a top priority of Harrisburg Republicans in recent years, and the idea has also earned support from Gov. Josh Shapiro. But a bill creating a state-funded voucher program has thus far failed to gain the governor’s signature. Shapiro initially supported a $100 million allocation for vouchers during the 2023 state budget cycle, but the governor ultimately line-item vetoed the funding amid a budget impasse between the Democratic-controlled state House and the GOP-controlled state Senate. 

Proponents of the PASS scholarship legislation said during Tuesday’s committee hearing that the funding could serve as a crucial support for students in struggling school districts. The prime sponsor of the bill, GOP state Sen. Judy Ward, said the scholarship program would “empower parents to put their children in the most appropriate learning situation and find educational opportunities that best suit those needs.”

“A quality education is the gateway to success, and scholarship programs like these are a lifeline for those children and families desperate to escape a poor educational experience,” Ward said.

State Sen. Anthony Williams, the lone Democrat to support the bill, pushed back on characterizations that a vote supporting PASS scholarships is a vote to harm the state’s public schools. “For some reason, we have allowed this to become a political football. Either you’re for public education or you’re not, and we’ve decided that school choice is a dividing line … But I am not going to argue about this anymore. I hope to illuminate and open people’s eyes. Honestly, we can do both,” he said. 

The other three Democrats on the committee – state Sens. Carolyn Comitta, Timothy Kearney and Lindsey Williams – all opposed the legislation. “Here we are again moving a bill to send public taxpayer dollars to private schools while we have barely made a dent in our constitutional obligations to fund public schools,” said Williams, the minority chair of the committee. She added that she will continue to oppose using state money for private school tuition costs. “Vouchers, by whatever name we call them – PASS, lifeline, etc. – are part of the plan to defund, destroy and destabilize public education, and I’ll be a ‘no’ every time.” 

The bill now awaits a vote from the full state Senate, and must also be considered by the state House before reaching the governor’s desk.