As school choice expands across the nation, Pennsylvania is falling behind, a leading advocacy group says.
Not only are its school choice programs failing to serve nearly half the students who…
As school choice expands across the nation, Pennsylvania is falling behind, a leading advocacy group says.
Not only are its school choice programs failing to serve nearly half the students who apply, a new report finds, but the fate of proposed Lifeline Scholarships remains uncertain.
The report from the Commonwealth Foundation found that nearly 80,000 of more than 164,000 applicants for the state’s two K-12 scholarship programs were denied. Pennsylvania has the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) for low- to moderate-income students and the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) for students trapped in the bottom 15% of schools in the state.
Many of the 384 schools on the worst-performing list have been on it for years, says Rachel Langan, a senior policy analyst for Commonwealth, meaning some students have been stuck in such a school for their entire elementary or high school careers.
Nearly 75% of OSTC applicants were denied last year, Langan says, due to holdups with the state’s budget and slowness by the state in issuing tax credits for donations, making some businesses hesitant to donate again. Even if those issues are fixed, more can be done.
The scholarships offered by both programs average about $2,700, which does not cover tuition at most private schools, meaning families are limited in their ability to use them.
That’s where the proposed Lifeline Scholarships come in, Langan says, which would offer $5,000 for K-8 students and $10,000 annually for high schoolers.
“Lifeline scholarships are the obvious answer to this because it would provide a scholarship for every one of these kids that was turned away (for OSTC), every single one of them,” she told The Lion. “If each one of them could get a $10,000 scholarship instead of $2700, that would be a game changer for those families, and it would get those kids the education that they need that they’re currently being denied.”
The scholarships would also be stackable, meaning some students could receive two or even all three of them. A triple-stacked scholarship and some help from the federal government, which is considering a national school choice tax credit program, could put not just private school but college prep school in the reach of disadvantaged youth, Langan said. Preparatory “day schools” can cost more than $20,000 per year.
Lifeline Scholarships are her group’s top priority for this legislative session, which culminates when the state budget is supposed to be passed by the end of June. Commonwealth will be mobilizing grassroots support, especially this spring.
“Our number one policy goal as an organization is to have Gov. Shapiro sign a school choice bill in 2025,” she said.
Lifeline Scholarships, however, have faced a rocky road since first being proposed in 2022.
Shapiro, a Democrat, campaigned in favor of them but later reneged on his promise, succumbing to pressure from House Democrats in 2023. He’s been mostly silent on them since then, although a current request to draft legislation means Lifeline could make its way through the process this year, Langan said.
Republicans control the state Senate but Democrats hold a slim one-seat majority in the House.
“We have been preparing for this since 2024,” Langan said of the campaign for Lifeline. “We are ramping up our planning, our wording of the language, our op-eds, how we’re going to frame this to really have information available publicly in April, May and June to really start relying on our external stakeholders to do their part. The closer we get to June, the more the pressure is going to mount.”
And if the bill is passed, will Shapiro sign it?
“The verdict is out,” she said. “Actions speak louder than words.”
