PA: Public Dollars For Private School Psychologist

It's not just vouchers: public taxpayer dollars can be directed to private schools through a variety of paths.

For instance, in Pennsylvania, public tax dollars are used to fill a gap in private school services.

Passed in 1974, Act 89 created funding streams specifically for providing psychology services for private/nonpublic schools in Pennsylvania. Per the state department of education website:

Act 89 evaluations occur at the request of the nonpublic school and with parent consent. Evaluations may include reports on students’ academic ability, academic achievement, social/emotional development, and behavior. The Act 89 evaluation, however, does not determine a student’s eligibility for IDEA services.

The psychologist is hire through the state Intermediate Unit (in PA, these are regional offices of the state department of education), and it is the IU that determines what exact type and scope of services are provided.

One can argue that the state would take on providing these services as a way of making sure that students don't skip through the cracks just because they are attending a private school. But the effect is that of reducing costs for the private school (which, as always, may discriminate as it wishes and in ways that public schools may not). It's a public subsidy for a private school that gets to play by its own rules on the public dime. I suppose it's also a good deal if you're a school psychologist who doesn't want to deal with public school students.

This isn't Pennsylvania's private school subsidy. In the commonwealth, any public schools that provide transportation for their students must also provide transportation for private and charter school students in their district, which is handy for students but constitutes one more publicly funded subsidy for private and charter schools.

It's not just about the vouchers. There are many ways to have taxpayers help fund private schools.