School Choice Bill Causing Tea Party Civil War

The Tea Party movement in Pennsylvania is at war with itself over a major education reform measure.

Less than four months after helping sweep Republicans into full control of the state government, the loose confederation of grassroots conservative groups scattered across the state has fractured over S.B. 1, which would establish "opportunity scholarships" for poor students. In its current form, the bill would give the state's poorest students in the worst-performing school districts access to vouchers beginning in the 2011-12 school year. 

The program would expand to all low-income students in the state in the third year.  The bill would also increase funding for an existing tax credit scholarship program.

The proposal has divided the state's Tea Partiers into two camps. While all seem to support school choice, the Tea Party groups do not agree on whether S.B. 1 is the right way to approach the issue.

Some believe the bill is imperfect, but view the legislation as an important first step in a long political battle for education reform. Others say they cannot support the bill because it does not go far enough in one fell swoop.

"Although the bill is not a perfect bill, we have to take what we can," said Anastasia Przybylski, founder of the Kitchen Table Patriots, a Bucks County group which is pressing for support of S.B. 1. "This is the first of many steps, and we hope the other groups will recognize that and support it."

Ms. Przybylski is organizing groups in support of the bill and claimed Feb. 17 to have about 20 groups in support of the proposal.

On the other side, some Tea Party leaders say the bill needs to do more to advance educational freedom in Pennsylvania. They criticize the idea that change can or should be accomplished incrementally.

"We have a unique political opportunity to reach beyond low-income students in our quest to obtain a better education for all students," said Sharon Cherubin, executive director of UNITEPA, a Lancaster County grassroots organization.

Led by UNITEPA, the opposition coalition of about 20 groups sent a letter to Senate Education Committee chair Jeff Piccola (R-Dauphin) and vice chair Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon) spelling out their opposition to the bill.

"As currently written, S.B. 1 is not about school choice," reads a portion of the four-page letter. "It is a political attempt to disrupt the union stranglehold while promoting an unconstitutional quick fix for failing schools and enticing the middle class with promises that will never come to fruition."

The groups opposing S.B. 1 are concerned the vouchers will cause a reactionary increase to private school costs and would allow the state government to impose new regulations and restrictions on private schools and their students.

Tea Party groups on both sides of the issue say they do not have a centralized "leader" and do not support the idea, but the groups are in favor of uniting to push certain issues at all levels of government.

But the lack of a centralized leadership means fractures like this are not only possible but likely on divisive political issues, said Terry Madonna, professor of political science at Franklin and Marshall College. 

Based on polling, Mr. Madonna said the Tea Partiers tend to be about 60 percent Republicans and 20 percent Democrats, with another 20 percent being non-affiliated. While they share certain characteristics, such as being fiscally conservative, they are divided by their beliefs on many other issues.

"There are these core things that hold them together, and once you move past the debt issue and the anti-government and anti-party feelings, the cohesiveness tends to fall apart," said Mr. Madonna.

As the Tea Party grows and develops, these kinds of splits are going to be more likely, he said.

For now, Tea Partiers opposing S.B. 1 say their objections are not meant to stop the advance of school choice in Pennsylvania, but to correct what they see as a flawed piece of legislation.

"It is our hope that objections raised now will produce a better school choice bill for Pennsylvania and a brighter future for our children," said Teri Adams, president of the Philadelphia-based Independence Hall Tea Party Association. Her group signed onto the UNITEPA letter. 

Greg Wrightstone, founder of the Pennsylvania Coalition for Responsible Government, a Pittsburgh-based group supporting S.B. 1, said the Tea Party groups can learn something from groups on the left which have used incremental change to achieve political goals.

"Does it go as far as we want? Absolutely not. But after speaking with senators and representatives, we think it might be the best we can get passed in the legislature right now," said Mr. Wrightstone. "We have to get the camel's nose under the tent."

Eric Boehm is a reporter for PA Independent. He can be reached at Eric@PAIndependent.com or at (717) 350-0963.