State Senator Unveils Plan For Failing Pennsylvania Schools
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - While the legislature considers a bill offering taxpayer-funded vouchers to move students out of Pennsylvania's worst-performing schools, a Philadelphia state senator has his own plan of how to fix those same failing schools.
State Senator Vincent Hughes' bill would take the state's 144 worst-performing schools, and require them to have smaller classes, longer school days, a longer school year and Saturday classes. Sound familiar? Hughes' so-called "Victory Academy" plan is similar to what Philadelphia is doing with its "Promise Academies."
But Hughes said his plan goes a step further, "I think our program may be a bit more aggressive. But we know that more time on task, more involvement in an academic setting, additional social services brought to bear to assist."
Hughes says his bill would take would take the same $54 million dollars the first year of a voucher plan would cost, and use it for extra instruction in the Victory Academies.
Reported by Mike DeNardo, KYW Newsradio
