School Choice Advocate the Key to Reform in the Keystone State

The American Federation for Children today congratulated Joe Watkins, a strong school choice advocate, on his appointment as chief financial recovery officer of the Chester Upland School District in Pennsylvania.

 Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Ronald Tomalis made the appointment on Friday, according to the Delaware County Daily Times.

Watkins is chairman of Students First Pennsylvania, an advocacy group that has worked tirelessly to bring strong educational options to Keystone State families.  The group was integral in working with the state legislature and the governor to expand the highly-popular Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program and to create a new scholarship tax credit program for students stuck in the state’s worst-performing schools.

While Watkins will be leaving his position at Students First PA, in his new role, he will be able to provide greater educational opportunity to the nearly 4,500 students in the Chester Upland School District.

Under the Financial Recovery Legislation for Schools, which was enacted alongside the expansion of EITC and creation of the Educational Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit, the secretary of education could place the school district in financial recovery status.  As chief financial recovery officer, Watkins has the ability to close schools, cut staff, and transform public schools into charter schools.

Celebrating the EITC (And We’re NOT Talking About the Tax Code...)

If you happened to be in Harrisburg yesterday you might have come across a big birthday celebration.  And while turning 11 might not be an anchor year for many of us, for the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC), turning 11 years of age is not only an important milestone, but the program’s supporters used the occasion to call for expanded school choice options in the Keystone State.

Organized by the REACH Foundation, the celebration included appearances by Senators Jeff Piccola (R) and Tony Williams (D), two leaders in the Senate fighting for more education options in the Keystone State.  This bipartisan duo led the fight last year to enact Senate Bill 1, which would create the state’s first voucher program serving students from low-income families that attend persistently failing school districts.  The bill, which passed the Senate last year, but failed in the House, would also expand the EITC program.  And the legislation is still being considered this year.  In fact, the dozen elected officials that attended the celebration, called for expanding educational options in Pennsylvania.

The EITC is a corporate scholarship tax credit program that was enacted in 2001.  In the 2011-12 school year, more than 40,000 students participated in the program.

- American Federation for Children | Alliance for School Choice, MSG