Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed House Bill 800 Tuesday, which Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) said fails to provide families with alternative educational choices.
House Bill 800 would have amended the Public School Code of 1949 by expanding the state’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC). It also would have increased the household income limit by $10,000 for scholarships.
Last year, 50,000 scholarship applicants were rejected, Turzai said, because of limits on the EITC and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs. The bill would have guaranteed these programs grow to meet demand.
“The Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) complements our public education system in Pennsylvania,” Turzai said. “One size does not fit all students. Pennsylvania families should have the choice that best suits the individual needs of each child. These scholarships are life-saving for every recipient. We should be striving to ensure that these scholarships are available to every family who needs them.”
Pennsylvania spends an average of $18,000 annually for every student in a public school, the ninth highest in the country.
For the 2018-19 school year, $32 billion in state and local taxes funded public education, and state appropriations have increased by 25 percent over the past five years.