The Virginia Senate Finance Committee voted 9-6 this afternoon to kill a bill that would have provided private school tuition assistance to low-income students.
House Bill 2314 passed the Virginia House of Delegates last week by a vote of 54-45, but senate opponents said the state had no business funding tax breaks to subsidize private schools while traditional public schools suffered budget cuts, according to a story on washingtonpost.com
It didn't matter that the bill had bipartisan sponsorship and was crafted to benefit only students who qualified for free and reduced-price lunch. Even Terry Fields, a former member of the Florida House of Representatives and a strong supporter of the similarly designed Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, tried convincing the senate committee of the bill's merits -- which would have included a savings to the state -- to no avail.
