Dem Lawmakers On the Wrong Side of Ed Choice

Democratic lawmakers — specifically, Gov. Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania House Democrats — are feeling the heat after waging a losing battle on an issue that is near and dear to so many Pennsylvanians: educational choice. Their recent legislative attack, which would have taken away thousands of scholarships from Pennsylvania students, reveals how out of touch these lawmakers are on the issue.

And this support is overwhelmingly bipartisan. About three-fourths of Pennsylvanians support expanding scholarship opportunities, including 73% of Republicans, 76% of independents, and 78% of Democrats. Democrat lawmakers should take note: The public, including their own base, doesn’t agree with their efforts to undermine school choice.

These numbers reflect growing concerns about public education. If money weren’t an issue, only 27% of Pennsylvanians would send their kids to their local school district, with the rest preferring private schools, charter schools, or homeschooling.

And it’s no wonder why. The latest results for statewide standardized testing reveal 51% and 70% of Pennsylvania 8th graders testing below proficient in English Language Arts and math, respectively.

When Gov. Shapiro unveiled his latest budget proposal, he proposed cutting school choice by shifting credits away from the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC). And his proposal couldn’t be more misaligned with what kids need. Last year, 101,000 scholarships went out to kids across the state, but nearly 70,000 scholarship applications went unfilled due to program caps. Clearly, Pennsylvania kids need more scholarships, not fewer.

To make matters worse, Pennsylvania House Democrats, seeing the governor’s green light, took that signal and ran with it. The result was House Bill (HB) 2632, a sweeping piece of legislation that originally proposed cutting about $100 million from EITC and piling on a litany of onerous burdens: new regulations on private schools, a 2 percent tax on scholarship organizations, and several other restrictions that would have violated donor privacy. In the end, 30,000 current scholarship recipients faced the threat of losing their financial aid. This bill to gut education choice defied both logic and conscience.

The public took note, and the response to HB 2634 was swift and loud. Parents, students, school leaders, faith communities, and everyday Pennsylvanians flooded legislative offices with thousands of phone calls, text messages, and emails to voice their opposition. This overwhelming pushback forced House Democrats to amend the bill before voting on it.

But the amended bill only stopped the immediate cuts. It still contained all the other excessive mandates and invasive regulations that would dismantle education choice as we have known it here in our Commonwealth for 25 years. House Democrats watered down their assault on school choice just enough to pass the bill from the floor.

Fortunately, the Pennsylvania Senate responded with a powerful counterpunch. In an overwhelmingly bipartisan 44–6 vote, the Senate advanced HB 1667, a legislative package that does exactly the opposite of what the House proposed. The Senate bill increases EITC funding by $25 million —enough to provide scholarships for nearly 10,000 additional students. (The bill also repealed Pennsylvania's Gross Receipts Tax on electricity, delivering $1.7 billion in tax relief and saving the average family roughly $500 a year on their electric bills.)

Another bill — the Educational Opportunity Omnibus bill introduced by state Rep. Martina White — would provide even more opportunities for Pennsylvania kids. It would not only expand EITC but also increase the tax credit donors receive, enact a new tax credit that would refund families’ educational expenses, and opt Pennsylvania into the new federal tax credit scholarship program.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, the House majority has yet to consider White’s transformative bill. Instead, their partisanship has blinded them to the genuine needs of Pennsylvania students. Thousands are pleading for more scholarships, but the House Democrats voted to add even more kids to the waitlist.

My dad often told me that his education was his ticket out of poverty, and for thousands of students, educational choice offers that same pathway to prosperity. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The time is always right to do what is right” — and now is the time to do right by our kids.

The good people of our great commonwealth have made their voices loud and clear on this issue: They want more educational options for their kids, and Harrisburg must do everything in its capacity to provide them.

Megan Martin is the chief operating officer and general counsel of the Commonwealth Foundation, Pennsylvania’s free-market think tank.