PA Governor abandons school choice agenda due to teachers’ unions pressure.

Pennsylvania Governor Drops Support for School Choice Initiatives

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro (D.) has made a surprising decision to withdraw his support for school choice initiatives in the face of opposition from Democrats and teachers’ unions.

The Democrat had previously shown support for a $100 million voucher program in the state budget, with the backing of Senate Republicans. However, he recently announced that he would abandon the proposal after House Democrats refused to budge. Shapiro made it clear to Democrats that if they pass the budget, which is already several days past its deadline, he will line-item veto the vouchers out.

“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 in a Wednesday statement.

The voucher program aimed to provide students in low-achieving school districts with access to private school scholarships. Senate Republicans had made it clear that their passing of the budget was contingent on the inclusion of the voucher program.

The Pennsylvania State Education Association, the largest teachers’ union in the state, strongly opposed the measure. In a June statement, the union expressed its absolute opposition to what they referred to as a “voucher scheme.”

This incident is just the latest example of Democrats attacking plans that aim to help students leave failing public school districts.

Another Democratic governor, Roy Cooper (N.C.), declared a state of emergency in May, claiming that a Republican plan to fund school choice programs would drop “an atomic bomb on public education” in his state.