by Brady Leonard at washingtonexaminer.com
After pledging to support a $100 million school voucher program in his first budget as Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro (D) has now reneged on the wildly popular school choice measure.
Shapiro, who won the governorship by 15 points over controversial Donald Trump -backed Republican Doug Mastriano, said he will veto the budget if it includes school vouchers after receiving pushback from House Democrats.
“Over the weekend, Leader Bradford (D-Worcester Township) requested a legal memo from the Office of General Counsel, which confirmed that without enabling legislation setting up this program, my Administration legally cannot implement it,” Shapiro said. “Knowing that the two chambers will not reach consensus at this time to enact PASS, and unwilling to hold up our entire budget process over this issue, I will line-item veto the full $100 million appropriation, and it will not be part of this budget bill.”
School choice polls are at around 72% nationally, and Pennsylvania voters support school choice by a 15-point margin. Available data suggest that school choice programs have an undeniably positive effect on test scores, but the good of the people, and even smart politics, must never stand in the way of Democrats and their benefactors in the teacher’s unions .
Shapiro is the latest in a long line of elected officials to be hailed as a moderate, blue-dog Democrat. But like the rest, at least in recent memory, he has failed to live up to his moderate label.
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