PA State Budget expands tax credit for school-choice?

A nearly $27.7 billion state budget taking shape in the Pennsylvania Capitol includes a substantial expansion of a tax credit available to businesses whose contributions can be used for scholarships to private schools, top state Republican lawmakers and legislative aides said Thursday.

The Educational Improvement Tax Credit, which is popular with the school-choice movement, will potentially double to $150 million from the $75 million set aside in the current year's budget.

Eligible schools would be those whose student test results were among the lowest in the state, mostly in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, York, Harrisburg, Chester and Reading. Both private and public schools that have room to accommodate new pupils and are willing to participate would grant the scholarships to the children, who would receive aid on a first-come, first-served basis.

Republicans are making more room for the tax credit at the same time that they are planning to eliminate a decades-old cash benefit that provides $200 a month for poor adults who are disabled and temporarily unable to work.

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