DN Editorial: Another reason for Archdiocese to confront grand jury report

THERE ARE many obvious reasons the Archdiocese of Philadelphia needs to effectively confront the findings of the grand jury report released Thursday, which led to the arrests of a high church official and four others. The grand jury urged the Archdiocese to make a more serious commitment to identifying and dealing with predatory priests and keeping them from contact with children.

But there's also a less obvious reason: Senate Bill 1, co-sponsored by Sens. Joseph Piccola and Anthony Williams that would introduce school vouchers. Under the bill, the state would give low-income parents about $9,000 per pupil to help them pay tuition at a private or parochial school.

Whatever the advantages or disadvantages of vouchers, they would clearly be a huge boon to struggling parochial schools, whose tuitions may be more in reach to parents with vouchers than higher-priced private schools. In fact, the Archdiocese's superintendent of schools stated at a recent public forum, "Every night, we pray for vouchers."

We have a few prayers of our own: That if public money is going to be diverted to private schools, including parochial schools, those schools will have to be much more transparent and accountable to the public, including how they will safeguard the safety of children.

We're not sure the grand jury was thinking of this when it said: "Although parochial schools do not operate at public expense, they do receive various targeted funds for ancillary items. The Legislature should consider reduced funding to schools, public or private, that fail to create a safe environment for their children." The report mentions this twice; there's a message there worth heeding.

The Senate Education Committee holds a public hearing on the bill, at 9:15 a.m. tomorrow, in Hearing Room #1/North Office Building, Harrisburg.