Josh Shapiro knifes parents in the back on school choice
Zachary Faria
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In what should be a surprise to absolutely no one, a Democratic governor who promised to support school choice folded when his promise was put to the test, knifing parents (and GOP legislators) in the back on behalf of teachers’ unions.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro had touted his support for school choice during his 2022 campaign, and he worked with Pennsylvania Republicans to draft a $100 million school voucher program as part of the state’s budget. Republicans, as part of a compromise, agreed to some of Shapiro’s other spending requests in education.
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And then came the knife. After passing the GOP-controlled state Senate, Shapiro announced that he would use his line-item veto to cut the voucher program from the budget if it passed the Democrat-controlled state House. House Majority Leader Matthew Bradford had said that Democrats (who have just a one-seat majority) would not pass the budget with the voucher program included, and so Shapiro immediately folded.
In other words, Shapiro and Democrats got the education spending they wanted, and all Shapiro had to give up was the school choice program that he claims he supports. Even if his support of school choice wasn’t just a cynical play for the election, at best Shapiro is saying he supports it only when there isn’t the mild inconvenience of having to do silly things like “compromise” or “negotiate” with members of his own party.
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The biggest loser here isn’t Shapiro, who evidently places school choice at the very bottom of his list of priorities, assuming it is truly on that list in the first place. It isn’t even Pennsylvania Republicans, who should now know that Shapiro’s word should not be trusted in future negotiations. The real loser here is Pennsylvania parents and their children, who thought they were getting something different and are instead getting yet another Democrat who does the bidding of teachers’ unions.
Those parents will now continue to see their children stuck in failing schools. Shapiro offers them nothing but the same old Democratic promise of throwing more money at failing schools in hopes that it will magically fix them. “I’ve also made crystal clear that I won’t take a dollar out of our public schools,” Shapiro said just two weeks ago. Luckily for the unions who care only about funding and not about actual academic results, that is one promise Shapiro doesn’t intend to violate.