Pennsylvania Governor to Veto His Own Campaign Promise

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro will veto his own campaign promise of school choice and abandon his push for private school vouchers in an effort to get the state budget passed through the legislature.

On Wednesday, Shapiro acknowledged that "the two chambers will not reach consensus at this time to enact" his voucher proposal, also known as the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS) scholarship program.

Knowing that legislators are "unwilling to hold up our entire budget process over this issue," the governor will "line-item veto the full $100 million appropriation," including PASS, a spokesperson for Shapiro's office told Newsweek.

Shapiro's support for school choice was a rare policy position for a Democrat. Although many Republicans have been vocal proponents and campaigned on a platform backing education alternatives to public schools, opponents argue that expanding school choice hurts public schools because it takes away from public funding, and disincentivizes parents from keeping their children enrolled in public schools.

School choice is part of a greater national discussion about parental rights in the country, and whether or not parents should have a greater say over their children's education, not just which institutions they attend, but what curriculum and materials they're offered.

It has also been shown to be a successful campaign strategy. Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe in Virginia after McAuliffe took a hit in the polls for saying, "I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.'"

Shapiro has argued that the debate around school choice was "not an either or" even before he was elected to the governor's office last year.

"I think this is a both and," Shapiro told reporters in just weeks before he won against Republican candidate Doug Mastriano in the midterms. "I think we can invest in public education and empower parents to put their kids in the best opportunity for them to succeed, and I don't think we have to harm public schools in the process."

Shapiro had sought to see his campaign promise through, pushing his controversial school choice plan through the state's budget. But while the Republican-led state Senate approved the $100 million voucher line item, House Democrats returned Wednesday with every intention to block the legislation.

Unable to drum up enough support from members of his own party, and with the state spending plan already overdue, Shapiro agreed to backtrack on his education plan to pass a $45.5 billion budget.

In response to Shapiro's announcement, state Senate Republicans issued a statement calling it a "shame" that the governor did not follow through on the promise and criticizing his leadership abilities.

"The Senate Republican Caucus worked diligently to pass a bipartisan budget. We negotiated in good faith and were eager to stand with Governor Shapiro on one of his priority campaign commitments—supporting school choice opportunities," Senate Republicans said in the statement. "Today, Governor Shapiro has decided to betray the good faith agreement we reached, leaving tens of thousands of children across Pennsylvania in failing schools."

Shapiro said while he is "disappointed the two parties could not come together," House Leader Matthew Bradford had promised the governor that he would "carefully examine and consider additional educational programs," including PASS.

"Our Commonwealth should not be plunged into a painful, protracted budget impasse while our communities wait for the help and resources this commonsense budget will deliver," Shapiro said on Wednesday, urging both sides of the aisle to now send the budget bill to his desk.

"Pennsylvania is the only state in the nation with a full-time, divided legislature — meaning nothing gets done unless it can make it through our Republican-led Senate and our Democratic-led House," the governor said.

Update 7/6/23 10:36 a.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from the state Senate Republicans.