Shapiro Should Opt in to New Federal Scholarship Program
Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis surprised many when he announced his intentions to opt in to a new federal scholarship program — a program championed by Republican lawmakers and codified by the Working Families Tax Cut (also known as the “One Big, Beautiful Act”).
“It supports donors to give more money to our schools,” Polis said. “I mean, I would be crazy not to.”
Polis is absolutely correct: Governors would be out of their minds not to participate.
Unfortunately, many of Polis’s fellow Democratic governors have staunchly opposed this new program. Gov. Josh Shapiro has dodged questions about Pennsylvania’s participation.
The federal tax credit scholarship program incentivizes taxpayers to donate up to $1,700 tax-free to scholarship organizations nationwide. Scholarship-granting organizations use the funds to award scholarships to Pennsylvania students, who can use them to pay for education-related expenses — everything from private school tuition and tutoring to classroom supplies and music lessons.
For Pennsylvanians, this program should look familiar. Federal lawmakers modeled the new scholarship program based on Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs. EITC and OSTC provide millions of dollars in similar scholarships and a robust network of organizations to leverage the new program.
Pennsylvania students and families are eager — if not desperate — for these scholarships. During the 2023–24 school year (most recent data available), EITC and OSTC awarded $280 million in scholarships to 101,000 applicants. These scholarships primarily benefit low-income families, who cannot afford to live in more affluent communities with blue-ribbon public schools or pay tuition at private schools.
Yet, these scholarships are not nearly enough. Arbitrary government caps throttle the amount of money scholarship organizations can raise. The result: Tens of thousands of students sit on waiting lists rather than in classrooms of their choice. During the 2023–24 school year, nearly 69,000 scholarship applications went unfilled, meaning that for every scholarship awarded, another was denied.
Unfortunately for Pennsylvania students, Shapiro will likely remain politically cautious on school choice — like he has done on most consequential issues. Many families are worried he will bow to political pressure from the left and refuse to opt in to the new federal scholarship program. Their concerns are not unfounded.
In 2023, the governor broke a campaign promise to sign the Lifeline Scholarship Program into law. The $100 million program would have freed students trapped in Pennsylvania’s lowest-performing schools, providing them with the financial support they needed to find better schools. The governor caved to pressure from teacher unions and partisan Democrats, vetoing the very program he had advocated for.
But the governor can rest easy. Opting into the new federal program should be — as Polis called it — a “no-brainer.”
School choice is extremely popular in Pennsylvania. Eight in ten Pennsylvanians support opting into the new program. Roughly the same number also support expanding EITC and OSTC and enacting Lifeline Scholarships.
Also, the conventional arguments against educational choice — namely, that it siphons “scarce” tax dollars from public schools to private ones — don’t hold water. Private tax-deductible donations fund this entire enterprise. These dollars never enter a state treasury, never pass through a public-school budget, and therefore cannot “divert” funding from any school.
The political reality for Shapiro should be even more obvious. Before the governor can run for president, his name will be on the ballot in Pennsylvania in 2026. If Shapiro does not opt in, how will his constituents respond if their tax dollars are flowing to fund scholarships in other states?
Political expedience aside, Shapiro should opt in because it is the right thing to do. Families across the commonwealth — particularly in low-income neighborhoods — face a heartbreaking reality: Their zip code determines their educational destiny. As a result, more than 200,000 students remain trapped in Pennsylvania’s failing schools.
Unfortunately, Pennsylvania’s age-old solution is to pour more money into public schools. The commonwealth spends more than $23,000 per student — the 7th-highest per-pupil expenditure nationally.
Yet, this strategy isn’t working. Academic achievement during the same time frame has remained abysmal. A 2022 study by the state’s Independent Fiscal Office found “little or no correlation” between current per-student expenditures and the share of students achieving proficient scores.
The truth is in the pudding. The Nation’s Report Card shows that more than two-thirds of the commonwealth’s eighth-graders cannot read or perform math at grade level.
Clearly, following the same strategy — increasing funding for public schools and hoping for better results — won’t work. Hope is not a plan. Pennsylvania is long overdue for educational innovation and student-first solutions.
Polis did the right thing; now it’s Shapiro’s turn. He has the opportunity to lead — not by choosing sides in an old ideological fight, but by choosing students and giving them the opportunity to succeed. As Polis put it, Shapiro “would be crazy” to let these opportunities pass.
