Monday, October 31, 2011

Karen Heller: Vouchers are not for the kids - Philly.com

Karen Heller: Vouchers are not for the kids - Philly.com:

Karen Heller: Vouchers are not for the kids

October 30, 2011|By Karen Heller, Inquirer Columnist
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  • File photo: Students leave Spring Garden School in North Philadelphia in June. A school voucher bill is not about the students, says Inquirer columnist Karen Heller. (AKIRA SUWA / Staff Photographer)
  • File photo: Students leave Spring Garden School in North Philadelphia in June. A school voucher bill is not about the students, says Inquirer columnist Karen Heller. (AKIRA SUWA / Staff Photographer)
  • State Sen. Daylin Leach: "The organizations that are funding the pro-voucher movement are very open that they want to eliminate public schools."

Harrisburg is bankrupt in so many ways, and not just officially. When it comes to helping Philadelphia, funding public schools and social services, or banning assault weapons that have zip to do with hunting Bambi, state legislators barely look up from their BlackBerrys.

Then, lo and behold, lawmakers started wringing their hands over the plight of our city's neediest, suggestive of a massive conversion experience or, barring that, something hinky in the Capitol's drinking water.

The state Senate passed SB 1 last week, the voucher bill that appears to serve our poorest children attending Pennsylvania's worst public schools, the majority in Philadelphia, the very institutions whose funding the GOP-controlled legislature sliced and diced earlier this year.

But appearances can run contrary to the truth.

"This has nothing to do with helping the poor children of Philadelphia," said State Sen. Daylin Leach.