Last Wednesday, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro backed off the private-school funding program following a budget stalemate within the State Senate.
Democrat Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (Photo: WITF)
Pennsylvania Governor Backs Off Private-School Funding Program Due To Budget Stalemate
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro backed off on the $100 million private-school funding program after finding out it was in the way of a budget stalemate within the state’s Senate and the state went on its fifth day without actual funding clearance. What is causing the division within the state’s Legislature is that the state’s House of Representatives and Senate are dominated by Democrats and Republicans, respectively. The Pennsylvania governor himself is one. The House of Representatives was prepared to cut a deal with the Pennsylvania governor.
The current holdup in the state’s divided Legislature was mostly over education spending — including the Pennsylvania governor’s support for a private-school funding program that costs $100 million to pay for the tuition of schools that Republicans also want, which are religious and private schools.
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Democrats And Republicans In The Private-School Funding Program
Democrats, teachers’ unions, and school boards have long resisted that original “voucher” program. The Pennsylvania governor has remained hidden in the Capitol but declared in a statement that if the House were to approve the Senate’s $45 billion spending plan in its entirety, he would veto a line item of the $100 million program.
Despite his disappointment regarding the budget stalemate, The Pennsylvania governor stated he did not want to force the state into a “painful, protracted budget impasse.” There may be a need for separate legislation to authorize the spending of that money on other measures that the Pennsylvania governor wanted in the budget plan and that Senate Republicans agreed to in exchange for the private-school funding program.
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