I noticed that Gov. Tom Corbett has announced a bill for tax-funded school vouchers. I assume this is a revised version of Senate Bill 1, which was shelved last winter. The proposed legislation provides taxpayer-funded vouchers that families could use to send their children to private, including religious, schools as well at other public schools.

This bill clearly contradicts the Pennsylvania Constitution. Article III, Section 15 states “No money raised for the support of the public schools of the Commonwealth shall be appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian school.”

My second concern is the projected price tag of at least $450 million in the first three years.

This proposal raises some perplexing questions.

• The bill would make vouchers available, initially, only to low-income families (defined as a family of four making up to $67,000 annually). How long will it be before every student from every public school in Pennsylvania will qualify for a voucher?

• Supporters of Senate Bill 1 characterize the legislation as a way to give families choice. Will private and religious schools, as well as wealthier public schools that control their admissions policies, enroll all of these students (discipline or attendance problems and some special needs students)? Probably not.

Can Senate Bill 1 deliver on the promises made to all students in low-achieving schools?

• Currently private and religious schools do not have to comply with the state testing accountability that is required in public schools. Will the tax-funded private school receiving vouchered students provide any accountability for student performance?

• Most people are aware of the athletic recruiting that goes on in many of the private and religious schools. With vouchers serving as quasi-scholarships, will both athletic and academic recruiting result in “cherry picking” from the public schools?

• My final question is this: Is this bill really motivated as a means to help students in non-performing schools or is this a veiled way to fund religious schools with taxpayer money, in direct violation of the Pennsylvania Constitution?