"Throughout the primary, I had great respect for how Tony Williams kept the focus on Pennsylvania's children, and the importance of improving education for their sake," Onorato said.
Williams finished third in the Democratic primary in May, behind Onorato and state Auditor General Jack Wagner, and enjoyed tremendous financial backing from school-choice supporters.
Williams introduced a bill in June to offer "opportunity scholarships" to children of families below certain income levels in "chronically failing schools." Onorato avoided a direct endorsement of that bill, which is not expected to make it out of the Senate before the election.
Onorato said he supported Williams' concept because it set out specific parameters, as opposed to blanket vouchers for any child to choose private schools over public.
He said, "It's a proposal that fits in well with the rest of my educational agenda," which includes funding early-childhood education and the state's public-school funding formula. He supports charter schools and the Educational Improvement Tax Credit, which also provides private-school scholarships for low-income families.
While Onorato steered away from the use of vouchers, Williams seemed untroubled by terminology, whether the idea was called grants, scholarships, or vouchers.
"The issue is having public money associated with a specific family that has a right to make a decision about where they send their child to receive a quality eduction," Williams said.
It appears that Onorato will not lose the backing of teachers, who support his broader education platform.
"Our view of him as a candidate has not changed. We believe that Dan Onorato is the best candidate for public education," said Wythe Keever, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association. "We don't expect to agree with a candidate for governor all the time."
