Straying from Democratic Party orthodoxy
Apart from the sex harassment case involving a former Shapiro aide, the hottest-button issue from his career maybe be his support — and then withdrawal of support — for private school vouchers.
Shapiro’s children attend a private Jewish school, and as a candidate he supported vouchers, reportedly after being influenced by Joel Greenberg, the billionaire co-founder of Susquehanna International Group.
Greenberg and his fellow Susquehanna co-founder, conservative activist Jeff Yass, are major political donors in Pennsylvania and top funders of the state’s school choice movement.
During state budget negotiations last year, Shapiro made a deal with Republican legislators to fund a $100 million voucher program for children in “low-achieving” districts, in exchange for them agreeing to higher state education spending overall. After the Democrat-led House refused to support a budget that included vouchers, the governor line-item vetoed the program, saying he wanted to avoid a budget impasse.
Senate Republicans responded angrily, saying the governor had “decided to betray the good faith agreement we reached.” Democrats said they were confused by the Shapiro’s enthusiasm for a project fiercely opposed by teachers unions and other core party constituencies.
Last month a coalition of education advocacy group from across the country urged Harris not to pick Shapiro as her running mate because of his stance on vouchers. Some Republicans, meanwhile, continue to stew over his backtracking on the plan last year.
“He failed to lead the Democratic House to see why this is important, and he failed because he left all of these kids out there floundering,” Kim Ward, the Republican president pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate, recently told the Wall Street Journal. The conservative Commonwealth Foundation has started running TV and newspaper ads targeting Shapiro, in part, for the veto.
Post a Comment