The Pennsylvania Award for Student Success Program (voucher system) of $100 million that would be directed toward low income students attending low-achieving public schools in the state is an obstacle in passing the 2023-24 state budget.
The legislation stipulates that funding will be allocated from personal income taxes collected, and that these funds are to be spent on students who “must be a Commonwealth resident, reside within the … boundary of a low-achieving school, and be living in a household with a household income below 250% of the Federal poverty guidelines.” They must also have attended a Pennsylvania public school the preceding year, received the voucher in the past or will start kindergarten in the next school year.
If a child to meets all the criteria, the voucher award would equal $2,500 for a student in half-day kindergarten, $5,000 for those in full-day kindergarten through 8th grade, $10,000 for all students in high school and $15,000 for a special-needs child of any level. Recipients are then permitted to use it to help finance attendance at a nonpublic school.
For a family of four, 250 percent of the federal poverty guidelines is equal to $75,000. Currently, slightly over 17,000 students attend “low-achieving” schools in Allegheny County (roughly 13 percent of all students). According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, an average of 75.8 percent are from families who are considered “economically disadvantaged” and presumably would be eligible for the voucher program.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education also defines a “low-achieving” school is one that represents the bottom 15 percent of schools based on their math and reading scores achieved on the PASA (Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment), PSSA (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment) and Keystone tests taken by the students annually. Utilizing this definition, 382 Pennsylvania public schools are considered “low-achieving” going into the 2023-24 school year, with 40 of these located in Allegheny County and thus eligible for the vouchers. Although this is a slight improvement from last school year’s 43 schools, it still demonstrates that 16.3 percent of the 246 schools in Allegheny County are “low-achieving.”
Specifically, Pittsburgh Public Schools in Allegheny County are particularly abysmal, with 40.4 percent of Pittsburgh schools ranking as “low-achieving.” Even though only 23.2 percent of Allegheny County schools are in Pittsburgh, 50 percent of students, or nearly 8,500 children, attending “low-achieving” schools in the county are in Pittsburgh, and points to a very inadequate education system in the city.
The possible ramifications of this voucher proposal are somewhat mixed due to its structure. Although it would force voucher-qualifying public schools to compete against private schools, causing the public schools to attempt to increase performance or risk a severe drop in attendance, the voucher is only directed toward the “low-achieving” schools. However, it is definitely a step in the right direction, that would help students escape from failing schools and greatly improving their educational opportunities.
