Private school choice program fight brews in Pennsylvania

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Quick Fix

— A top Pennsylvania GOP state lawmaker says he won’t end his quest to greatly expand a private school choice program in the state even after Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed legislation that would have done just that.

— Congressional Democrats seek to bolster and showcase public employee union organizing rights this week on Capitol Hill with a planned bill introduction and hearing before the House Education and Labor Committee.

— Teacher shortages, pay and school choice are on Florida teachers’ minds as the 2020 presidential candidates prepare to debate in Miami later this week, union leader says.

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Driving the Day

OUT TODAY BY POLITICO: POLITICO’s “2020: The Issues” is the most comprehensive guide anywhere to the issues shaping the Democratic presidential primary, driven by dozens of expert journalists in the nation’s most robust newsroom covering policy and politics.

— This project tracks 50 — and counting — policy issues that are already animating primary voters. You’ll find quick descriptions to get you up to speed, an overview of policy proposals and links to recent coverage so you can learn more from our earlier reporting.

— Teacher pay and college costs are two of the biggest issues in education that the candidates have been discussing. Read where they stand on education issues here. Or, check out the whole guide.

PENNSYLVANIA LAWMAKER DECRIES GOVERNOR’S VETO: A high-profile fight in the Keystone State over whether to nearly double the size of a state tax credit scholarship program that funds private school tuition continues to brew. Under the 2001 program, businesses earn a tax credit for contributing.

— GOP Pennsylvania House Speaker Mike Turzai tells Morning Education he’s not giving up attempts to expand the program even after Wolf, a Democrat, vetoed a bill last week that would have done so. Turzai said about 50,000 students were turned away last year to participate in the state’s tax credit scholarship programs and that $140 million in tax credit applications have been waitlisted due to program caps.

— Turzai said he’s hearing from families and participating schools, which include Catholic, Christian, Jewish and nondenominational schools, voicing disappointment. For students and families that “welcome the opportunity to go to a school that best suits them, they aren’t going to have that opportunity,” Turzai said. “I’m immensely disappointed that the governor has left those families empty handed, really, by virtue of his veto.”

— It looks like there aren’t enough available votes to override Wolf’s veto. But Turzai says there are other legislative mechanisms under consideration to get some provisions in the bill passed. The bill includes the adoption of an “escalator clause” that would have guaranteed the program could continue to grow to meet demand and an increase in the maximum household income level for participation eligibility to about $100,000. Republicans control both legislative chambers.

— Pennsylvania has two tax credit scholarship programs, which have been credited with helping to revitalizesome of the state’s Catholic schools. But Wolf said the bill he vetoed “strays from the original stated intent of the program — to lift people out of poverty — and fails to provide any additional accountability or oversight for the tax dollars being expended.”

— Tax credit scholarship programs, which are used in about 20 states, have been pushed at the federal level this year by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Among those backing the Pennsylvania legislation is Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). Toomey said in a tweet that “Access to good schools shouldn’t be determined by a child’s zip code.”

— Meanwhile in West Virginia, the Senate is expected to reconvene at 5 p.m. today. GOP Senate President Mitch Carmichael has said he expects the chamber will clear a contentious omnibus education bill passed last week in the state’s House that would allow for the state’s first charter schools.

On the Hill

DEMOCRATS TO FILE LEGISLATION ON UNION ORGANIZING: Democrats plan to reintroduce legislation on Wednesday that would guarantee the right of public employees — such as public school teachers — to organize and bargain collectively in states that don’t offer such labor protections.

— Similar legislation, S. 3151 (115), was filed last year in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Janus v. AFSCME. The Supreme Court ruled in the case that public sector unions may not charge non-members mandatory fees to offset collective bargaining costs.

— The bill introduction by Reps. Bobby Scott(D-Va.), the chairman of the House education committee, Matt Cartwright(D-Penn.) and Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) in the House, and Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Patty Murray(D-Wash.) in the Senate, is expected the same day that a House Education and Labor subcommittee will hold a hearing on “protecting the right to organize.’

— Watch for discussions during the hearing of the #RedforEd teacher strike movement. The hearing starts at 10:15 AM in 2175 Rayburn.

— Also on Capitol Hill this week, a subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee will look at how the $10,000 cap on the State and Local Tax deduction, part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, H.R. 1 (115), has affected schools and other local community services. The hearing starts Tuesday at 10 a.m. in 1100 Longworth.

— Worth noting: DeVos will be in Hominy, Okla., on Tuesday to deliver remarks at the Tulsa Community College Second Chance Commencement at the Dick Conner Correctional Center. The event will honor more than 70 incarcerated students who are graduating with a degree or certificate from Tulsa Community College. It starts at 8:45 a.m. CDT.

2020 Watch

MEMO TO PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES: Fed Ingram, president of the Florida Education Association, one of the state’s largest unions, tells Morning Education in an interview that teachers in his home state want the 2020 candidates to talk about how they would address teacher shortages and teacher pay during the first official presidential primary debates.

— The debates are Wednesday and Thursday in Miami. Each night, 10 candidates will participate. (Here’s a refresher.) As we’ve previously reported, the candidates have been aggressively courting the teachers unions’ endorsements this election cycle.

— Ingram said teacher preparation programs in the state are closing or consolidating because too few students are going into teaching. Based on a state estimate, there could be up to 10,000 classrooms without a certified teacher come fall, he said. “It’s a crisis for us. We want them to address the shortage. We want them to address teacher pay,” Ingram said.

— Ingram said as he travels in Florida, teachers keep asking him where each candidate falls on education issues. He said he also wants to see the candidates discuss charter schools and vouchers.

— “These alternative school systems are not a panacea,” Ingram said. “They are not a silver bullet to make public schools better. We need to devote our time, our talent and our treasures to our public schools because that is what we consider the cornerstone of democracy.”

— Separately, on Tuesday, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke will participate in an American Federation of Teachers town hall — one of a series the AFT has had with Democratic 2020 candidates.

TRANSITION DOCS SPELL OUT DEVOS’ RECORD: Internal Trump transition team documents obtained by Axiosthat identify “red flags” for then-prospective Cabinet members note that DeVos was not an early Trump supporter and describe how her brother is Erik Prince, founder of the “controversial” Blackwater firm. The documents also showcase DeVos’ work in the school choice movement, including how her school choice group, All Children Matter, was fined $5.2 million by a judge but had refused to pay it. View the documents here. DeVos chief of staff Nate Bailey told Axios in response that the president picked her because of her work and “old items about other members of her family hardly seem relevant.”

Report Roundup

— If America’s top 200 colleges only admitted students with the highest SAT scores, more than half of enrolled students would have to leave. It would also create a less racially diverse and slightly more affluent student body, according to a new study by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce.

Syllabus

— California insurance exec pleads guilty to paying $450,000 for kids’ admission into USC as fake recruits: USA Today.

— The Givling trivia app claims to help people with student debt. Players say it’s expensive and risky: CNBC.

— For refugees, integrating Into Kentucky’s education system can be a challenge: WFPL.

— Audit: Education commissioner in Montana overspent on hotels, travel: The Associated Press.

— Jesuit school, defying archdiocese, refuses to remove teacher in same-sex marriage: New York Times.