Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett today announced a sweeping education reform package that would create an expansive voucher program for low-income families stuck in failing schools, ensure strict accountability standards for charter schools, and increase eligibility for the state’s highly-successful Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program. The American Federation for Children—the nation’s voice for school choice—praised the governor, State House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, Senate Majority Whip Pat Browne, and Secretary of Education Ronald Tomalis for supporting a legislative package that is poised to significantly improve the educational futures of thousands of Keystone State students beginning as early as next year. Corbett’s plan—which he said he hopes to see passed into law this fall—would create an Opportunity Scholarship Program that would grant scholarships to low-income students living in the state’s lowest performing 5 percent of schools. Families with incomes up to 130...

HARRISBURG – A rising level of anti-Semitism on college campuses across the country led state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams to offer a resolution on Wednesday condemning such conduct and calling on colleges and universities across Pennsylvania to stand guard against it. Williams, a member of the Education Committee in the state Senate, sponsored Senate Resolution 315, calling for the state Department of Education, the State System of Higher Education and each college and university in the Pennsylvania to work to prevent such conduct from happening locally. State Sens. Andrew E. Dinniman, Michael J. Stack and Joseph B. Scarnati co-sponsored the Williams resolution. “I was with a friend and saw a video of Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren giving a speech at the University of California and was just shocked by the ugliness that erupted,” Williams said. “Freedom of expression does not mean acts of intimidation, as was clearly displayed. We certainly don’t want to see this behavior take root ...