An astonishing $6 million plus has been pumped into the voucher campaign in Pennsylvania in the last year alone.
As this article notes, Tea Party activists were getting cold feet about vouchers because they objected that vouchers might be too generous to poor children.
Not to worry: Governor Tom Corbett and his allies in the Legislature changed the formula to make sure that some of the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars will be spread to more affluent districts.
All this money for vouchers will be extracted from public school budgets at the same time that Corbett & Co. are cutting those same budgets.
It seems as though the Republican conservatives want to decimate public education.
Who are these people?
In little more than a year, activists like Michigan’s Betsy DeVos, of the Amway fortune; the heirs of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton; and three wealthy Main Line hedge-fund traders have doled out an astonishing $6-million-plus in campaign cash to top Harrisburg pols, while they and allies have spent millions more on rallies, inflammatory mailers and lobbyists.
Betsy DeVos’s group, the American Federation for Children, pushes for vouchers under the guise of it being a “civil rights” issue. Just trust the rightwing to protect the civil rights of poor children. And then there is the Walton family, which gives generously to anyone who promotes vouchers and charters (as well as TFA and KIPP and Rhee). And of course, the hedge fund managers. These are the 1%. They don’t have any use for public education. They use their vast resources to undermine the public sector and to advance the cause of privatization.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The really disconcerting part is that there are many monied people and institutions locally supporting this effort: folks like the individual ”donors” behind bringing BCG to Philadelphia, the suburban Philadelphia/Cato Institute donors pouring millions into hopeless campaigns like Anthony Williams’ run for governor (but sending a message about the relevance of the voucher debate), and Philadelphia’s own Archdiocese which sponsored Voucher Sunday speakouts in the weeks leading up to the finalization of the state budget. Corbett just appointed the head of Students First PAC to become the chief recovery officer of the Chester School District!
PA is and has long been a regressive state on education policies and funding. We were ranked near the bottom of the nation a decade ago on inequitable funding and we are headed that way again thanks to the current administration’s policies.
Remember Chester Upland School District outside Philadelphia? Last spring their teachers worked for a few weeks without pay until the state restored a little of what Governor Corbett had cut from their education budget in 2011-2012 so they could get through the school year. The state has now taken over the District.
The Chief Recovery Officer appointed by the Governor is Joe Watkins. Watkins has been a leader in trying to get school vouchers in Pennsylvania despite massive public opposition. Watkins also is both a registered lobbyist and the chairman for Students First. Students First donated thousands of dollars to the campaign of Republican Gov. Tom Corbett.
The financial recovery plan instituted by the Governor can include closing schools, cutting staff and transforming schools into charters.
http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2012/08/18/news/doc502f0a7a3fdee860194486.txt?viewmode=fullstory
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/state_edwatch/2012/08/studentsfirst_executive_takes_over_pa_recovery_district.html
In Louisiana, vouchers may end up to be the straw that broke the camel’s back in the reform debacle. It, more than anything else, has gotten the media and the public’s attention because the rhetoric cannot overcome the easily understood very simple concept of TAKING TAXPAYER MONEY TO FUND PRIVATE AND PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS. And it was done IN SPITE OF the overwhelming objections/questions of the public. Of course those objections were attributed to UNIONS and the STATUS QUO which was a mistake in this instance because it served to create an alignment between the public and these two factions rather than to further distance them.
Secondly, the most important objection is that money to pay the vouchers is now being taken out of the Department of Education budget rather than separately funded by the state. Not only are STATE taxpayer dollars being used, but local district taxpayer funds specifically dedicated to local schools for building construction and maintenance etc. are being used. That, in itself, will probably be deemed illegal in our lawsuit against the state on this legislation.
Thirdly – vouchers are now offered to all children throughout the state and affect every taxpayer and every school district in the state. Originally, 2010 legislation provided for vouchers ONLY for students in failing schools under the direction of the Recovery School District (STATE) and those were mostly in New Orleans. We’re talking inner-city, minority, poor. “THOSE people.” Now it affects all taxpayers and their local schools.
Last but very importantly, the voucher school approval process was a farce in the too many schools given vouchers are shams and the accountability system created by our Superintendent John White is a sham. Now the mantra of “ITS ALL ABOUT THE CHILDREN” appears EMPTY. Certainly, our Superintent and Board of Education put the CHILDREN LAST in this latest attempt to grab the money.
Doesn’t much sound like you believe in Louisiana Believes! I’m not a convert either!
As a Pennsylvanian I resent these outsiders high jacking our election process. If we Pennsylvanians don’t wake up to this attempt by these rich outsiders we soon will become an oligarchy and have no one to blame but ourselves. These outsiders are only interested in making education a private money making commodity rather than a public good, and reverse America’s modern innovation of promoting learning and civic virtue through public schools staffed with professional teachers for children from all backgrounds. It is time to fight back!
The capacity of voucher supporters to justify their actions still amazes me. How many of these “vouchers” will go to parents of student already in private schools? That option drains ed funds without removing a single student from the public school roster.
Teapartiers are worried about giving government control and takeover of private and religious schools. Your point about impoverished children is moot.
But not worried enough to stop the voucher movement or to stop pouring millions of dollars into the campaign for vouchers.
If vouchers are truly for the purpose of helping low income students achieve equality, then cap the salary of $50,000 for people to be able to use them. I don’t think it would be so hotly debated by the PSEA if it were really to help low income families. This is just a disguise to allow rich people to send their kids to swanky private schools and get back cash for doing so.