Citing Pennsylvania’s high dropout rates, Gov. Tom Corbett on Tuesday promoted taxpayer-paid vouchers as the ticket to a better education for low-income students in the state’s worst-performing school districts as he detailed a broader plan to improve and reshape public education in Pennsylvania.
Under the proposal, parents who qualify could use the vouchers — dubbed “opportunity scholarships” by Corbett — to send their children not only to private or religious schools, but also to better-performing public schools. His plan also calls for changing how charter schools are established and teachers are evaluated, and expanding tax credits for businesses that fund scholarships.