The debate over tuition vouchers for Pennsylvania’s low income school children

Air Date: February 18, 2011

Hour 1

The long and heated debate over school choice in Pennsylvania has been reignited. Ten years ago, former Governor Tom Ridge tried and failed to get support for vouchers, but this past year, Governor Tom Corbett made school choice one of his crucial campaign promises — a plan that is garnering support from both Republican and Democratic legislators. Earlier this week in Harrisburg, the Senate’s Education Committee held day-long hearings on a new bill that would provide tax-funded vouchers to low-income students in failing schools. We debate the issue with two Democratic state senators — Anthony Hardy Williams from Philadelphia, who has co-sponsored the bill to create a system of taxpayer-funded vouchers, and Daylin Leach from Montgomery County, who opposes the legislation.

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[audio: 021811_100630.mp3]

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