"Would you send your child to a school where failure and mayhem are the rule?"ANOTHER VIEW Those trapped in failing schools need help.

By Dawn Chavous

The Pennsylvania Senate recently passed school reform legislation that includes important charter school reforms; an expansion of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit, which provides scholarships to low- and middle-income families; and a limited school voucher program. If passed by the state House, this legislation stands to rescue thousands of children from Philadelphia's worst-performing and most violent schools.

It didn't take long, however, for the legislation to come under attack, mainly from those ideologically opposed to the voucher program. But for all their bluster, voucher opponents can't seem to deal with two basic questions that voucher supporters are attempting to address: Would you send your child to a school where failure and mayhem are the rule? And what is your plan to immediately help a third-grade student trapped in such a violent, failing school, whose future is slipping away day by day?

For most people who have a choice, the answer to the first question, of course, is no. And unfortunately, voucher opponents have no answer for the second question - no plan to provide immediate help to the countless kids trapped in bad schools.

Senate Bill 1, the legislation passed by the Senate, has supporters on both sides of the aisle, including Philadelphia Democrats like Sen. Anthony Williams and Rep. Tony Payton. That's partly because it would immediately help the children trapped in failing city schools where the majority of the children are often African American. In several of Philadelphia's failing schools, African Americans account for 98 or 99 percent of the student population. Make no mistake: School vouchers are the civil rights issue of our generation.

This legislation answers the challenges at hand, and it is not an attack on Pennsylvania's public school system. It simply provides lower-income families - namely, those whose children qualify for free and reduced-price school meals - the choices that other families take for granted. The children who would be eligible for vouchers under S.B. 1 attend the schools that are ranked in the bottom 5 percent in academics and near the top in violence. State Department of Education statistics show that 5,430 violent incidents involving students and staff took place at these schools during the 2008-09 school year - including seven rapes, 554 weapons crimes, and 1,983 assaults on students.