From The Associated Press:

The state Senate could vote as early as Wednesday on a bill that is designed to meet Gov. Tom Corbett's desire to overhaul Pennsylvania's public schools by helping thousands more of those students afford private and parochial school tuition with taxpayer help and making it easier to open charter schools.

A rewritten version of legislation that had stalled in the Senate in the spring easily passed the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday, just a day after the committee chairman released the new draft.

The rewritten bill adds a chapter on charter schools, but also it substantially scales back the scope of Piccola's earlier voucher program that would have cost hundreds of millions of dollars more and been available to children of the state's poorest families.

Under the new bill, vouchers would be limited to children in the worst-performing school districts, but income limits would be higher.

Time is running out for a number of school choice bills in Pennsylvania. And the Wall Street Journal's opinion page -- of all places -- points the finger at the GOP.

In his Main Street column, William McGurn writes that school voucher and tax credit proposals are in "political limbo," no thanks to a Republican leadership that is now sending mixed signals:

If you go by their words, every Republican leader in Harrisburg supports choice and competition. So why are they scrambling, just two days before a big budget vote and the end of the legislative session? The answer is a classic Republican screw-up.

UPDATE: The Post-Gazette now says not so fast.

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

HARRISBURG -- School voucher legislation is poised to pass the state Senate as early as today, following a lengthy committee debate Monday over amendments from the bill's opponents.

The measure, which has drawn both fervent support and opposition, would make low-income students eligible for vouchers toward their tuition at a public or private school outside their district. A provision approved Monday would expand that eligibility to some middle-class students in the program's fourth year.

Attempts to limit the program's eligibility, require districts to tally up how much vouchers cost them, and allow students to opt-out of religious classes at their new school all failed in the Appropriations Committee.

The time for school vouchers in Pennsylvania has come, writes state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams in an op-ed published today in the capital city newspaper, and it's time for opponents to let go of the "antiquated belief that existing public school systems have the right of first refusal when it comes to educating our children."

Williams, a former Democratic candidate for governor, is the co-sponsor of a bill that would provide private school tuition assistance to low-income children. The measure passed a key senate education committee last week by an 8-2 margin, with two Democrats -- Williams among them -- voting in support.

He explains that support by maintaining what school choice is not:

School choice is not an alternative to public education. It is a vital part of an innovative and productive public education system.

Parents who are financially able to, make choices by moving into good school districts or by sending their children to private school. SB1 would allow low-income families to take the state tax dollars devoted to their child and apply them to the public or nonpublic school of their choice.

It would allow more middle class and working families across Pennsylvania to choose the best schools for their children by expanding the popular Education Improvement Tax Credit, which provides tax credits to companies that donate money for scholarships or educational improvement.

The time for school choice, and yes, school vouchers, has come.