Gov. Shapiro Abandoning 30,000 Children as PA Democrats Push to Strip School Choice

Pennsylvania Democrats rushed anti-school choice legislation Tuesday, bypassing regular order and sneaking up on Republicans. They aim to strip 30,000 children of educational scholarships, pocket the children’s scholarship money, and cut public charter school funding by $500 million.

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro was elected in part because of his promise to return educational choice to parents and families. Between the most recent budget proposal and an offensive “assault” on school choice, the governor continues to backtrack on campaign promises.

Shapiro, currently running for a second consecutive term, recently released his fiscal year 2027 budget proposal to “Keep Doing What’s Working.” In it, he proposes cutting $500 million from online charter schools. In Pennsylvania, nearly 60,000 children attend online charter schools.

“House Democrats have passed an education poison pill, preparing to rip away transformative school choice from tens of thousands of students. The cuts proposed in this bill are punitive and destructive,” said Andrew Lewis, president and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation, a pro-liberty, free-market think tank in Pennsylvania.

The first bill would strip top-rated, privately funded school choice scholarships from 30,000 students. Roughly 71% of students are eligible for the Pennsylvania Educational Improvement Tax Credit, launched in 2001, and 10% are eligible for the Pennsylvania Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit, launched in 2012.

Under the new bill, each of these would be eliminated and replaced with the “Education Options Tax Credit,” which would allow the state to collect 2% of all private donations made to scholarship funds. It would also require new regulations on private schools and require the auditor general to conduct audits.

According to the Commonwealth Foundation, nearly 70,000 students were turned away due to program caps on the EITC and OSTC programs in the 2023–24 school year. They call for “expansion, not reduction.”

“Lawmakers must reject efforts to take educational opportunity away from the Pennsylvania students who need it most. We must protect educational opportunity, not cut it,” Lewis continued.

School choice is growing in popularity across the country, but particularly in Pennsylvania. According to a recent poll conducted by the Commonwealth Foundation, nearly 80% of state residents support expanding tax-credit scholarships for pre-K through grade 12, 72% support “education opportunity accounts,” and 71% support “a refundable tax credit that gives money to families to spend on the direct needs of their child, including private tuition, online education programs, tutoring, curriculum, and therapies.”

While House Democrats spent time and effort on this political move, it is almost certain it will die when it reaches the Republican-controlled state Senate.