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Onorato looks for school choice mantle from Williams

PHILADELPHIA—Almost three months after he lost a hard-fought Democratic primary for governor, state Senator Anthony Williams formally threw his support behind Dan Onorato as the two came together to talk up Williams’ favorite issue: school choice.

Appearing at City Hall here Wednesday afternoon, Onorato voiced support for state grants that parents could put toward private school tuition—a semantic variation of the phrase “school vouchers” that Democrats are often hesitant to use. School choice, including public vouchers to subsidize private education, was a centerpiece of Williams’ campaign and remains integral to his political identity.

“I agree with Tony that Pennsylvania’s education options should include grants so that low income families served by the most academically challenged schools will be able to choose another option for their children,” Onorato said with Williams at his side. “And it’s a proposal that fits in well with the rest of my education agenda.”

Onorato has voiced support for vouchers before as part of a larger education policy, and he has also previously stated his support for the Educational Improvement Tax Credit, which gives families tax beaks to fund private schooling. But Wednesday’s event amounted to his most explicit comments on the subject. And with Republican nominee Tom Corbett seen by some as the school choice candidate after Williams lost, Onorato’s campaign looked inherit at least some of that mantle from Williams himself. The Philadelphia state Senator entered the primary late, but made a splash thanks to huge campaign contributions from wealthy school choice advocates.

Onorato, the Allegheny County executive, didn’t offer up specifics about how much money could be granted to families, how much it would cost or who would qualify. His campaign policy paper on education doesn’t mention vouchers, and stipulates that funding for the Educational Improvement Tax Credit should never come “at the expense of resources for public education.”

As the only two candidates with campaign cash for significant advertising during the primary, the contest between Onorato and Williams was particularly heated at times, and Williams passed on a chance to endorse his rival the night of his May primary loss. In an interview with pa2010.com, Williams said he and Onorato “had time over the summer to get to know each other a little better, to get to talk substantively.”

Both the Pennsylvania State Education Association and the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Federation of Teachers—both public school teachers’ unions—have endorsed Onorato. Teachers’ unions typically oppose vouchers, but Onorato pushed back against the notion that they would compromise the quality of public schools.

Public and private schools, Onorato said, have always been perceived as being “pitted against each other.”

“The reality is we need good public schools,” he added, “and we’ve got to be competitive with public schools, too.”

August 11, 2010 at 4:25 pm

--Andrew Thompson

Tags: Anthony Williams, Dan Onorato, Tom Corbett

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