News In Brief

Gov. John G. Rowland has appointed a 16-member task force to design a school-choice plan for Connecticut that would include public and private schools.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge will make a second effort to enact legislation providing private school tuition vouchers, but will scale back his proposal from a statewide initiative to a demonstration program.

Gov. Rowland, a Republican and a longtime advocate of vouchers, is also making his second attempt to win support for the concept. A bill that would have given poor families state money to send their children to the schools of their choice failed in...