Board opposes school choice

COLEBROOKDALE » The Boyertown Area School Board recently voted 6-3 to join the statewide opposition to a school choice bill now under consideration in the state Senate.

First proposed last summer by Harrisburg-area state Sen. John DiSanto, R-15th Dist., Senate Bill 2 would create what DiSanto calls Education Savings Accounts.

Under the bill, parents whose children would attend a low-performing school determined to be

among the lowest 15 percent in the state could access those accounts to pay for “qualified” education expenses.

The money would be the equivalent of the average Pennsylvania subsidy per student — between $5,000 and $6,000 — and that amount would be deducted from the state subsidy provided to the district for that student.

The money could be used to pay tuition to private schools, parochial schools or even for extra tutoring, or college, according to DiSanto’s announcement.

Boyertown’s vote came at the end of the 3½-hour meeting and was not on the April 10 meeting agenda.

School Board President Donna Usavage raised the matter, and said some on the board had suggested the board adopt the generic resolution crafted by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.

That resolution notes that the ESAs in the bill could be used to benefit students “never having attended the target school” and could be provided to “benefit families regardless of income or need, including students already enrolled in private schools.”

The PSBA resolution also points out that private and parochial schools which are not held to the “strict accountability standards that measure student achievement and academic progress” to which public schools are held.

“Provisions under Senate Bill 2 would not require participating private schools to use the same standardized assessments, making comparison and evaluation of academic progress unachieveable” there, the resolution states.

“By targeting the lowest-achieving 15 percent of schools in the commonwealth, Senate Bill 2 has been estimated to siphon more than $500 million dollars from the most under-resourced schools that desperately need the funding,” PSBA wrote in a recent release.

“If Harrisburg hears people don’t care, this may go through,” said board member Jill Dennin. “If people from Pottstown decided to go somewhere else, the district could go bankrupt and those students could come to Boyertown.”

Board member Clay Breece, who joined members Ruth Dierolf and Christine Neiman in voting against the resolution, argued vigorously that both the timing and the intent of the vote were misplaced.

“I don’t think it’s so bad for a school district failing its students to go bankrupt. This is a government monopoly,” said Breece. “We have a lot of failing schools in Pennsylvania.”

“It’s irresponsible to vote for this resolution because it hasn’t even gone out of committee. But we’re going to do this because it’s a political play,” Breece said. “We’re going to play politics with people’s lives.”

Dennin said one reason it is still in committee may have to do with “the outrage” being expressed by school districts around the state — 180 at last count.

Locally, districts which have passed the resolution include Pottstown, Phoenixville, Exeter and Schuylkill Valley.

“A lot of times when you stay silent, it has moved on to the floor and it’s too late to do anything about it,” Dennin said.

“The real people who suffer are the people in poor school districts. They are slaves to these school districts,” said Breece. “Some people don’t have the resources to move, so they are stuck in a lousy school district.”

“Bureaucrats support this government monopoly at all costs, and sacrifice these people on the altar,” Breece said. “It’s socialism, it’s a government monopoly and I’m against it.”

“I see this bill as not really solving the issue, not getting at the root cause, which is how to fund public education,” said School Board Vice President Steve Elsier. “If you look at failing schools and ask how those schools are funded, the problems are not happening in wealthier districts where funding is higher.”

“Pennsylvania ranks near bottom for state share of education funding, and that’s an ongoing stain,” said board member Brandon Foose.

“There is a pretty strong correlation between income and the amount of money people have in savings,” said Foose. “The less you’re making, the less you have available to put into a savings account.”

“The idea this will help impoverished communities,

“Bureaucrats support this government monopoly at all costs, and sacrifice these people on the altar. It’s socialism, it’s a government monopoly and I’m against it.” Clay Breece, Boyertown School Board member

I don’t agree with,” Foose said. “You can’t suddenly afford The Hill School because of access to an ESA.”

Interim superintendent David Krem said “I take umbrage at idea of urban schools failing their students, those kids have to work harder, with disadvantages they have. I know when I was the superintendent of an urban school, all those schools made AYP every year.”

“Urban schools are doing what they can do, considering that they are, excuse the expression, being raped and pillaged every day,” said Krem.

“Urban schools are doing what they can do, considering that they are, excuse the expression, being raped and pillaged every day.” David Krem, interim Boyertown Schools Superintendent “The idea this will help impoverished communities, I don’t agree with. You can’t suddenly afford The Hill School because of access to an ESA.” Brandon Foose, Boyertown School Board member