CITY HALL SAM: Archdiocese Could Have Handled Vouchers Better

CONGRESSMAN BOB BRADY has a WURD radio show. He broadcasted live from the Aramingo Diner this week. The Congressman covered a number of important topics during the show and enjoyed a good breakfast.

JONATHAN SAIDEL has been seen at the Palm, Table 31 and the Capitol Grille recently. Could he be ready to get back into the quest for Mayor? The field is getting crowded. SETH WILLIAMS is still in, even though he had a recent snafu with an inappropriate campaign solicitation to staffers. STATE SEN. TONY WILLIAMS is still in, even though he wasn’t able to win the AVI battle for MAYOR MICHAEL NUTTER. COUNCILMAN BILL GREEN is probably still in. He helped stop the Mayor on AVI. ALAN BUTKOVITZ is in. But he will first have to dispatch BRETT MANDEL, who is challenging him for reelection. Wouldn’t it be a perfect time for powerful union leader JOHN DOUGHERTY to get into the race and clear the field like a parting of the Red Sea?

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has shown a lack of political understanding on the voucher issue. Most intelligent people know Catholic schools deliver a good educational product. Such a product does not come cheap and that’s why the schools are struggling. The view that vouchers will save the schools is over-simplistic. The price tag would be astronomical and the Constitution prohibits direct funding to non-public schools.

A solution lies in tax-credit programs such as the Educational Improvement Tax Credit program which gives businesses tax exemptions for donations toward educational grants and scholarships for children and families in need. A portion of the revised EITC program would be directed to kids in bad schools. The archdiocesan voucher concept is focused on middle-class families struggling to pay Catholic-school tuition. Some of the EITC money will go to these middle-class families. But they continue to attack any politicians that won’t support vouchers as “Anti-Catholic Schools”, which is simply untrue and naïve. Any bill that comes through Harrisburg will likely be combined with some other corporate-welfare component that will make the bill unpalatable for reasonable people.

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