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Onorato supports school vouchers for low-income families

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato on Wednesday adopted a controversial plank of a rival's platform, openly supporting a form of school vouchers for the first time.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato on Wednesday adopted a controversial plank of a rival's platform, openly supporting a form of school vouchers for the first time.

Onorato, in a news conference at City Hall, embraced "grants that would give low-income families in academically distressed communities direct choices about which schools their children should attend."

His stance earned him the public support of State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams (D., Phila.), who pushed for school choice as a candidate in the May Democratic primary. Williams can offer political and, perhaps, powerful financial support for his former opponent.

"Throughout the primary, I had great respect for how Tony Williams kept the focus on Pennsylvania's children, and the importance of improving education for their sake," Onorato said.

Williams finished third in the Democratic primary in May, behind Onorato and state Auditor General Jack Wagner, and enjoyed tremendous financial backing from school-choice supporters.

Williams introduced a bill in June to offer "opportunity scholarships" to children of families below certain income levels in "chronically failing schools." Onorato avoided a direct endorsement of that bill, which is not expected to make it out of the Senate before the election.

Onorato said he supported Williams' concept because it set out specific parameters, as opposed to blanket vouchers for any child to choose private schools over public.

He said, "It's a proposal that fits in well with the rest of my educational agenda," which includes funding early-childhood education and the state's public-school funding formula. He supports charter schools and the Educational Improvement Tax Credit, which also provides private-school scholarships for low-income families.

While Onorato steered away from the use of vouchers, Williams seemed untroubled by terminology, whether the idea was called grants, scholarships, or vouchers.

"The issue is having public money associated with a specific family that has a right to make a decision about where they send their child to receive a quality eduction," Williams said.

It appears that Onorato will not lose the backing of teachers, who support his broader education platform.

"Our view of him as a candidate has not changed. We believe that Dan Onorato is the best candidate for public education," said Wythe Keever, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association. "We don't expect to agree with a candidate for governor all the time."

Keever said Onorato has told the union leadership from the beginning that he would take a "balanced approach to school choice."

Ted Kirsch, president of the American Federation of Teachers-Pennsylvania, said he would be part of an AFL-CIO meeting in Hershey Thursday at which Onorato would be endorsed.

"Although we may disagree with him on this issue, it's not going to be enough to not support him as a gubernatorial candidate," Kirsch said.

And Onorato now probably stands a better chance of attracting the financial support of the three Bala Cynwyd businessmen who donated nearly $5.4 million to Williams in the primary through the Students First Political Action Committee and turned the heads of politicians across the country.

Onorato denied getting support from them was his motivation. "I have absolutely no idea what they're going to do, and that's their business," he said.

Backers of school choice will be able to choose between their candidates, because Republican candidate Tom Corbett has declared his support for vouchers also.

"Students First is watching all of the candidates to see what they have to say about school choice," said Joe Watkins, chairman of the Students First PAC. "It's good when candidates in both parties seek to put students first, and are willing to consider the full menu of options to improve the quality of education."