As budget negotiations continue, education funding has proven to be a sticking point. One piece of legislation, referred to as Lifeline Scholarships, has passed the state Senate.
House Bill 479 amends the state fiscal code to establish the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success Scholarship Program and the fund that would provide the money for that program. The Lifeline scholarships are meant to help kids in underperforming schools. Families with children in low-performing districts would be provided restricted accounts by the state. The family would be able to use that money to pay for tuition to private or religious schools. While the bill has its supporters, opponents say that the money would be better off going to public schools.
The bill passed 29-21 with Senator Pittman voting in favor of the bill. He said on the floor of the Senate yesterday that children do not care if their education is from a public or private school.
Pittman said that not one dollar is being taken away from public education. The bill now heads to the state house.
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