‘Big Betrayal’: Pennsylvania GOP Reeling After Governor Vetoes School Choice Program

Gov. Josh Shapiro said negotiations failed between the House and Senate

Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks during a news conference to announce the reopening of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia on June 23, 2023. Joe Lamberti/AP Photo

With the Pennsylvania budget still mired in controversy, state House and Senate members have gone home for summer break and are expected back to work at the Capitol in Harrisburg in September, although they may be called back sooner.

Republicans are reeling from an unexpected budget move by Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro, in which he announced he will line-item veto a school choice plan that Mr. Shapiro himself proposed in his budget address and promised to Republicans during budget private negotiations at the governor’s mansion, Republican leaders say.

The vetoed plan is the $100 million Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS) Program which would provide school choice tuition grants between $2,500 and $15,000 for tuition, tutoring, and educational expenses in private school systems.

The grants would go to families earning below 250 percent of the poverty line and living in the attendance zones of schools in the bottom 15 percent of public schools with the lowest math and reading test scores.

Republicans have long wanted a school choice program, and the PASS Program, which accounts for 0.2 percent of the state’s $45.5 billion budget, is a step in that direction. Democrats and teachers unions have typically opposed school choice because it will mean less funding for public schools.

Single-Issue Budget

Republicans say Mr. Shapiro and his negotiating team gave assurances that they could get Democrat members to support PASS, and in exchange for that promise, Republicans agreed to extend free COVID-originated school lunches; fund the $50 million Whole-Home Repairs program, which gives low-income homeowners and landlords up to $50,000 for home repairs; and give $100 million to the Level Up program to give more money to the poorest school districts.

The budget includes $1 billion in increased spending for K–12 public education, the largest increase in state history, Mr. Shapiro said. The funding establishes universal free breakfast for every public school student in Pennsylvania.

“We worked hard to develop a budget package that could win support of both chambers, but in the end, we could not reach final agreement between all three parties, which I made clear to the leaders of both chambers multiple times in private, and in my public statements to all of you,” Mr. Shapiro said in a July 6 press conference.

“In the end, Senate Republicans did not close the deal with their house counterparts. Rather than closing a deal that was within reach with House Democrats, instead, they chose to send the State House a budget that was not agreed upon by all three parties, which contains the $100 million for a program that the house was unwilling to advance at this time. Our Commonwealth should not be plunged into a painful, protracted budget impasse over one provision of this budget, while our communities wait for the help and resources that they need.”

Knowing the two chambers will not reach consensus, Mr. Shapiro said July 6 that he was unwilling to hold up the budget process over one issue, so he announced his intention to veto the PASS program.

Broken Trust

With the veto, everything Republicans agreed to stays in the budget, but the reason they agreed—the PASS program—will be removed.

“This move that the governor is pulling does not have precedent in Pennsylvania; it’s never been done by a governor,” Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, a Republican, told The Epoch Times.

“As you’re negotiating, you would never expect such a betrayal,“ Ms. Ward said. ”If you can’t trust the person you’re negotiating with—and this was a really big betrayal—how are we ever supposed to work with him again? How do you know that what he tells you is going to be facts? How do you know that somebody’s not going to pull his chain the other way, which is what happened, and he just jumped. How can you veto yourself? He’s vetoing himself.”

Republican Sen. Scott Martin, chair of the Appropriations Committee, said Republicans were under the belief that all parties were on the same track until the House Democrats passed the budget when the governor said he would line-item veto the PASS school choice program.

“When you’re going back and forth and saying people agree to things, and you’re taking it back to your caucus in order to make sure you have support in getting something done, you have to be able to rely [on their word] when you walk away from a handshake,” Mr. Martin told The Epoch Times.

“Probably more importantly, in this case, when your team, line by line, went through the budget proposal together, and solidified the numbers, and even wrote program language for the school choice program—it was a hand-in-hand thing that we did, and if that’s not trust, I don’t know what is—but then to have it all fall apart and hear about it over the news, obviously, it’s very concerning.”

Governor Says No Deal

In his press conference, Mr. Shapiro, the former state attorney general, blamed Senate Republicans for the impasse, and minimized his role in negotiations.

“What’s clear is that the Senate Republicans were unwilling to consider the priorities of the House Democrats, and as a result, the parties could not agree on a budget agreement. They then made a unilateral decision to send this bill over to the house. They may not like how this process played out, but it’s the process that they put into effect because of their inability to close the deal with the House.”

Mr. Shapiro said he personally supported the PASS program and precisely characterized the deal he made with Republicans.

“I recognize that some of them want to distract from the reality that they now find themselves in. There was never a deal between all three parties that was acknowledged by all the parties privately and publicly. They now need to in get a room with the House Democrats, and they need to learn to work together,” Mr. Shapiro said.

It will be tough to trust Mr. Shapiro in the future, Ms. Ward said.

“We trusted him. And why would we not trust a governor?” she said. “He was being so secretive that he was negotiating with us away from where the Democrats could see. He was doing it in private, and he would say, ‘Here’s what we need. Here’s the Democrats’ needs for [PASS].’ And he kept moving the goalposts. We got to a point where we were done moving the goal and we said, ‘We’re done.’ And he led us to believe that he could carry his party. They said no, and he folded immediately under their pressure.”

Budget Passed, but Stuck

The budget is not yet law. The Democrat-led House signed the budget but went home for summer break without sending it to the Senate to sign. The Senate, which is also out of session, cannot sign the budget if it is not sent to them.

The Epoch Times asked leaders of the House Democratic Caucus why it has not sent the budget to the Senate for a signature, when it intends to send it, and why it is delayed, but they did not respond.

Mr. Shapiro’s office also did not respond to a request for comment before press time.

“When the Senate sends [the budget] to my desk, we should not delay getting the good people of Pennsylvania the help and the support they need,” Mr. Shapiro said. “I hope the Senate will be responsible stewards of the public trust and return to Harrisburg to sign this bill, a necessary administrative function before they can come to my desk for my signature to make it law.”

Teachers Union Money

It is worth noting that the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), which has $150 million in assets according to nonprofit papers, is affiliated with the largest labor union in the United States, the National Education Association (NEA), which has $400 million in assets.

PSEA has made more than $1 million in campaign donations to Democrats who shut down the plan that would have provided school choice for low-income students. PSEA has given Mr. Shapiro $775,000; Speaker of the House Rep. Joanna E. McClinton was given $124,000; Democrat Leader Matthew Bradford was given $90,000; and the House Democratic Campaign Committee received $120,000 from PSEA.

Ms. Ward says PSEA was involved in trying to kill the PASS school choice program.

“[PSEA] told one of our [Republican] members in the Senate that they would not be targeting this particular member right now, but there will be national groups coming after him the next time he runs,” she said.

Once the budget is signed by the Senate and Mr. Shapiro, there is another step. The state treasurer cannot fund new or expired initiatives without the writing of new codes, a task of the Legislature in which they more fully define programs and procedures and enable funds to be released.

This is where Republicans still have a voice in the budget conversation.

“We will go back [to Harrisburg] when we have agreement on the codes,” Ms. Ward said. “Whether that’s now or September, I don’t know. The code bills are all we have left to play with—to get some of the things we want and maybe stop some of the things we didn’t want.”