Pennsylvania's Senate Bill 1 with its plan for school choice (demonized as "vouchers") for poor students in poor schools isn't going to be welcomed by the Pennsylvania State Education Association, but they certainly won't be howling like the Wisconsin Education Association union did over Governor Scott Walker's legislation.
It seems that Pennsylvania's Republican Governor Tom Corbett is living up to expectations of being a "moderate" (RINO) because he doesn't see Pennsylvania as needing the kind of pension or health benefit reform for Pennsylvania's public school employees that Wisconsin's governor is trying to achieve there.
Charter school operators provided Corbett with campaign gifts and it looks like this poiltical environment has created the legislation aimed at urban areas with poorly performing public schools. Its here that the charter schools are springing up and will spring up in the future, especially with the financial support from SB 1.
The Senate Bill 1 argument will be made that poor children in poorly performing schools deserve a decent education but PSEA will quickly negate that argument with the notion that taxpayers money will be lost to public schools forcing up property taxes.
This argument will play well in the suburban and rural areas where grassroots anger is rising against annual property tax hikes. It's these Tea Party friendly, more conservative areas that gave Corbett and other Republicans 70 to 80 percent support last year.
Yet its likely that many legislators from these areas will be bombarded with opposition to SB 1 and they may vote NO causing the bill to fail in the legislature. Not only is SB 1 bound to lose, but Republicans will be bloodied by the higher tax argument of the teacher's union.
Corbett, along with SB1's leading supporters (Senators Jeff Piccola and Mike Folmer) should revise the legislation to offer school choice statewide and reframe the argument to appeal to the Republican Party's grassroots.
The new statewide school choice pitch goes like this. Private schools spend less per student with more reasonable salaries and benefits for administration and teachers. Private schools don't build extravagent buildings or have massive athletic facilies. Shouldn't schools that spend money more wisely be rewarded with taxpayer dollars instead of those that waste money.
Republicans in Pennsylvania need to take the fight to the enemies of the conservative grassroots like the Pennsylvania State Education Association or the school choice fight is one that Governor Corbett and Senator's Piccola and Folmer are likely to lose.
Conservatives right now are cheering Governors like Scott Walker in Wisconsin and Chris Christie in New Jersey for drawing union wrath. Governor Tom Corbett is giving conservatives nothing to cheer about and unless he does the Republican Party will end up paying the price in future elections.
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