Pennsylvania’s Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro Caves to His Party on School Choice Program He Claimed to Support

Pennsylvania’s Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro claimed to support the idea of school choice. He is on record saying that he did not believe that a school voucher program would harm public schools in any way.

Yet when it came time to put his money where his mouth is, he caved to his party, which is in bed with the teacher unions.

Shapiro’s first loyalty is to them, not the parents and children of Pennsylvania.

FOX News reports:

Pennsylvania’s Democrat governor caves on school choice program he staunchly backed to appease his own party

Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro made an unexpected move Wednesday when he gave into partisan squabbling in the state legislature over funding for school choice in order to appease members of his own party preventing the passage of a state budget.

“Last Friday, the Senate passed a responsible budget that delivers critical funding to our shared priorities and sent it to the House for its consideration. Now, we stand at an impasse largely over one provision of this budget, PASS Scholarships, a proposal I support that has been passed by the Senate but one that Leader [Matthew] Bradford has made clear does not have the support of the House,” Shapiro said in a statement…

A supporter of the funding and increasing school choice for Pennsylvanians, Shapiro had struck a deal with Republicans on what would be the state’s first-ever “voucher” program for private and religious schools, and insisted on including $100 million for it in the budget.

His move surprised state lawmakers and caused tensions within the Democratic Party that led to Democrats in the state House demanding $750 million more in aid for public schools that state Senate Republicans had not agreed to. State House Democrats voted down separate legislation to create the voucher program last week.

Shapiro is being called out for playing the people of Pennsylvania on this.

Governor Josh Shapiro said he supported private school choice and even put it in his education platform before the election.

He just sent out a statement indicating he will line-item veto the school choice program in the budget.

He played the parents of Pennsylvania. https://t.co/rGjW7bDkDj

— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) July 5, 2023

Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro campaigned on private school lifeline scholarships for kids in the state’s worst failing schools and touted them on national TV last week.

Now?

“I will line-item veto the full $100 million appropriation.”

Unbelievable.https://t.co/gBeeQyFdfc

— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) July 5, 2023

NEW: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro caved to the teachers unions and announced he would line item veto $100M for school choice in the state’s budget.

Meanwhile, he sends his kids to a $30K per year private school.

Read the @PAFreedomCaucus‘s statement in response. pic.twitter.com/eHxSnFLu5g

— State Freedom Caucus Network (@SFC_Network) July 6, 2023

This is a total betrayal of the people, but luckily for Shapiro, he is a Democrat, so the media will run cover for him.

Of course, the biggest losers in all of this are the kids who would benefit from school choice.