Taxpayers sidelined amidst school funding tit-for-tat

By Christen Smith | The Center Square

HARRISBURG, PA -– As the state’s prolonged game of chicken enters its third month, all eyes turn toward the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

That’s because two key pieces of legislation needed to enact the $45.5 billion budget sit unfinished on the chamber’s desk, though neither meets the demands of the Democrats in charge.

As such, leadership dismisses the bills as nothing more than the Senate’s revenge for a school voucher program Gov. Josh Shapiro cut from the budget to appease his legislative allies.

That’s how the state’s largest teachers union – key critics of the voucher proposal – sees it.

“Public schools are struggling to place teachers and aides in classrooms and hire bus drivers to take kids to school,” said Rich Askey, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. “We need to fund programs that address these problems. No Pennsylvanian can afford to let tuition voucher politics get in the way of doing that.”

Senate Republicans shrug off this characterization. When Shapiro killed the deal he’d struck with them on school vouchers – a program he told media outlets he still supports as recently as Aug. 11 – Senate leadership said they too had to reconsider.

The two fiscal codes the upper chamber passed last week demonstrate a reconstituted framework that drops authorization for certain Democratic priorities, such as an additional $100 million earmarked for the state’s neediest school districts and student-teacher stipends. It’s a development state Rep. Amen Brown, D-Philadelphia, predicted would unfold after affirming his support for school vouchers on talk radio last month.

He’s among a small and mostly silent group in the House that supports the $100 million program, which provides scholarships to families in low-performing districts to cover tuition costs at a private school instead.

And – perhaps crucially – an even split between Republicans and Democrats in the House means Brown’s vote is the only foil to his party’s blockade. It’s a bargaining chip that will disappear when a Sept. 19 special election tips the balance back in Democrats’ favor, however.

Legislative staffers told The Center Square that the school funding it nixed were concessions made in the budget deal that Shapiro himself dissolved with the line-item veto. Now, those offers are no longer on the table.

That’s why the second code bill authorizes spending for scores of other programs that don’t divide the legislature, such as higher ambulance reimbursements, stream remediation, and support for libraries and community colleges. Democrats say, however, that it leaves out provisions for child care programs and indigent defense, among others.

So where does that leave human service agencies, school districts, early education centers, teachers, emergency service providers, and the taxpayers that support them all? Running in place as lawmakers play for tit-for-tat.

This time, however, the Commonwealth Foundation – the most vocal supporters of school vouchers and educational tax credits – say just one chamber’s “intransigence” against adopting more than one way to help students in struggling districts holds back progress for everyone.

“The Senate took a necessary step to move forward on completing a budget,” said Nathan Benefield, the foundation’s senior vice president. “This action shows there is bipartisan support for a deal that delivers for students and taxpayers. The onus now lies with House Democrats and Shapiro – the final roadblocks to finalizing the state budget.”

As of now, House Democrats have no plans to return to session before Sept. 26. In a scathing statement last week, leadership said the fiscal codes “are not an opportunity to renegotiate the budget.”

Shapiro, himself, was unimpressed by the developments. He told the chambers to stop “talking past each other” and make a deal.