School-voucher pros & cons debated by panel in N. Phila.

Opponents of a proposed school-voucher program said last night that paying for public-school students to attend schools outside the district would strip funding from a cash-strapped district and funnel it to private institutions that provide little - if any - guarantee of positive results.

However, telling students that they must continue attending consistently underperforming schools - while taxpayers shovel money into them without seeing results - is unsustainable, said State Sen. Anthony Williams and State Rep. Tony Payton. Both men support the recently-introduced Opportunity Scholarship and Educational Improvement Tax Credit Act.

"There are schools in Philadelphia County that have been failing since I was a child in school - that have been persistently dangerous since I was in school," said Williams, a Democrat who represents West Philadelphia and part of Delaware County.

He was on a panel of lawmakers and community activists who debated the proposal in front of about 200 people in North Philadelphia.

State Rep. Curtis Thomas noted that providing a school voucher does not necessarily mean that private, parochial and charter institutions will accept students looking to leave underperforming schools in the city.

"Nonpublic school entities have made it very clear, we're not taking anything we don't want," he said. "Then no matter how much money you bring to the table, they're not accepting you."

Of 144 schools in the state listed as persistently failing, 91 are in Philadelphia, Williams said.

Jerry Mondesire, president of the local NAACP chapter, said that he and others want the best for Philadelphia students, but called the proposal more of an experiment than a solution.