Leaving Every Child Behind
By Frank Ryan, CPA, CGMA, retired Member, PA House of Representatives
I have known Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Matt Bradford for many years. I consider him a friend. We served together on the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System Board and in the Legislature from 2017-2022, where I came to appreciate his intelligence, his work ethic, and his sincere commitment to public service despite our disagreements on policy.
That is precisely why I am so troubled by his support of House Bill 2632 which should be called the “Every child left behind bill”
Good people can disagree on public policy. But HB 2632 is not simply another legislative disagreement. It is a proposal that would profoundly harm tens of thousands of Pennsylvania children, limit educational opportunities for low-income families, and send the wrong message to businesses considering investment in our Commonwealth.
For more than two decades, Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program has been one of the nation’s most successful examples of public-private partnership. Businesses voluntarily contribute to scholarship organizations, receive tax credits, and thousands of children gain access to schools that better meet their educational needs.
Everyone benefits.
Students receive opportunities. Parents gain choices. Schools are strengthened through healthy competition. Taxpayers save money because scholarship recipients often attend schools at a fraction of the cost of educating a child in a public school setting.
HB 2632 would reverse much of that success.
The legislation would eliminate the existing EITC framework and replace it with a more restrictive system. Funding available to scholarship organizations would be reduced by more than $100 million annually. Independent estimates indicate that approximately 30,000 children could lose access to scholarships that help make their education possible.
Think about what that means.
These are not statistics. These are children.
They are students whose parents work multiple jobs to provide better opportunities. They are families in struggling neighborhoods seeking safer environments and stronger academic outcomes. They are children whose futures may be altered because adults in Harrisburg decided that educational opportunity should become more difficult rather than more accessible.
The bill also eliminates supplemental scholarship opportunities for economically disadvantaged students, imposes new financial burdens on scholarship organizations, and creates additional bureaucratic requirements for participating schools.
At a time when Pennsylvania should be expanding educational opportunity, HB 2632 moves in the opposite direction.
The consequences extend beyond education.
As a former businessman and legislator, I have spent much of my professional life examining what makes states attractive places to invest and create jobs. Economic growth depends on more than tax rates and infrastructure. Employers want to know whether their workforce will be educated, whether families have quality educational options, and whether a state embraces innovation.
Programs like EITC communicate an important message: Pennsylvania values educational excellence, parental choice, and public-private collaboration.
HB 2632 communicates something different. It suggests that successful programs should be constrained, that private-sector participation should be discouraged, and that government knows better than parents how educational decisions should be made.
That is not a message that attracts investment.
Nor is it a message that reflects the aspirations of working families.
I recognize that supporters of the legislation may believe they are improving accountability or fairness. Those are legitimate goals. Every public policy should be subject to review and improvement.
But reform should strengthen successful programs, not dismantle them.
If lawmakers believe reporting requirements should be improved, let us improve them. If transparency can be enhanced, let us enhance it. If scholarship programs can be made more effective, let us make them more effective.
What we should not do is reduce opportunity for thousands of children while claiming to advance educational equity.
I say this with respect for Majority Leader Bradford and others who support this legislation. I do not question their motives. I question the wisdom of the policy.
Pennsylvania’s children deserve better.
The families who depend on these scholarships deserve better.
The businesses that invest in our communities deserve better.
And the Commonwealth deserves a future in which educational opportunity is expanded rather than restricted.
For those reasons, I urge members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to reject HB 2632 and instead work together to strengthen—not weaken—the scholarship programs that have helped so many Pennsylvania families pursue a brighter future.
