PA FREEDOM CAUCUS: GOVERNOR SHAPIRO SHOWS LACK OF LEADERSHIP, BREAKS PROMISES ON LIFELINE SCHOLARSHIPS
Harrisburg, PA- Today, Governor Shapiro released a statement that he would line-item veto any allocation for a lifeline scholarship program. A strange statement when one considers the program, designed to lift students out of the worst performing schools by providing choice in education, was a hallmark of Shapiro’s campaign platform.
Shapiro’s statement came in response to increased pressure to cut the proposed program from House Democrats who are funded overwhelmingly by the Public State Education Association teachers union. PSEA opposes the plan.
A list of contributions on transparencyusa.org shows PSEA’s top payees are the Speaker of the House, Rep. Joanna McClinton- $123,500.00, Majority Leader, Rep. Matthew Bradford- $90,500.00, Appropriations Chair, Rep. Jordan Harris- $39,000.00 and a total of $119,500.00 to the Pennsylvania House Democratic Campaign Committee.[1] By far the largest donor was Governor Shapiro himself, receiving $775,000.00.
“Leader Bradford’s actions are clear”, says PA Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Dawn Keefer. “He chooses the powerful teachers union lobby over struggling students, regardless of how badly they’ve been failed by PA’s public schools.”
The Pennsylvania Freedom Caucus was proud to have been supportive of the lifeline scholarship program from the start and is disheartened to see the governor capitulate to special interests at the sake of the commonwealth’s students. “Even more shameful is the ease at which Governor Shapiro is willing to abandon the very students he promised to help.” continued Keefer. “The union’s education establishment trumps the needs of our students once again.”
[1] https://www.transparencyusa.org/pa/committee/psea-pace-for-state-elections-pac-7900366/payees
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Shapiros is just as crooked as all the other Democrats. And also a liar. We need to act now and start taking back our state bit by bit.
I took a look at the Bill (Senate Bill 795 [2023]) that establishes the Program.
I had questions about the first definition that appeared, in the "Definitions" area!
(And, when I say, "questions," I don't mean that I didn't know what the words meant; I mean that I "saw through" the wording, and envisioned ALL KINDS of problems, litigation, and money that the Commonwealth could be "on the hook" for, because of what "the letter of the law" contains.)
Merely the way the term "Applicant" was defined, in that Bill, seemed, to me, to be some kind of "can of worms" that could occupy the agendas of School Board meetings across the Commonwealth, for six months to a year!
I hadn't even gotten to the actual "language of the law" that defines the Program and says who is supposed to do what, etc.; yet, I saw that the law was "not ready for prime-time".
A law that creates a new budget line-item can't be introduced and referred to committee, on June 15th, when the Budget has to be passed and sent to the Governor in 15 days!
The Legislature convened in January.
I wouldn't object, if the Governor were to veto any budget item related to the funding of the Lifeline Scholarship Program, including administrative expenses, including any supplies or services related to the development of application forms, procedures, regulations, etc.
[NOTE: Obviously, weighing down the Code of Pennsylvania with laws that authorize the creation of Offices, Programs, and State Responsibilities and Obligations that haven't got a prayer of receiving a dollar in funding --both because of the Governor's veto and because of the Governor signing Executive Orders that forbid the Pennsylvania Treasury from disbursing Federal, private-sector, or foreign-origin funds to any Office that might have anything to do with the Lifeline Scholarship Program-- represents a danger to the People of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the same way that a leaky roof over a high-voltage electrical closet is a danger to the entire structure and its ability to function: "praying that it doesn't rain" didn't help New Orleans, during Hurricane Katrina.
Conflicts between Branches cannot continue, beyond a certain point, or the People will seek new employees, to handle their Government-related affairs.]
FYI: The "Lifeline Scholarship Program" looks like it was introduced in both Houses, in 2021/2022! So, it's not as if the language hasn't been looked-at.
IMO, there's no way that Senate Bill 795 [from FY 2023] should have made it out of the Education Committee with a definition of "applicant" as being a "parent" (rather than "parent or guardian")!
And I'm not even talking about the legal doctrine of "in loco parentis", that might be invoked by a school, to file an application on behalf of a kid who needs to get out and should get out, but whose parents can't or won't file the application, yet who retain parental rights over those kids!
The problems with the Bill (including the fact that it was referred to Committee two weeks before the end of FY2022/2023) are so obvious, that it makes me wonder what, in the world, is happening, there.
I really do urge the incumbent Legislators to take steps pre-emptively in the months BEFORE the Election, to actually have something that they can show, to constituents, so everyone will know that, AS AN INDIVIDUAL, each incumbent Legislator is actually WORKING on whatever that Legislator thinks is "the proper focus" and "the top priority" that the Legislator has.
Because, really, the Law shapes the economic, socio-cultural, and political "environment", in the Commonwealth. If the laws are as leaky as a sieve, that environment won't shelter anybody; and not everybody likes being that guy, in the movie "Forrest Gump", who rode out a hurricane perched on a cross-bar atop the mast in a fishing-boat that was under way, at sea, with the rain and wind lashing him, and the boat in grave danger, the whole time.
That's not fun, for some people.
Even on a farm, a heavy rain is probably no fun. If it rains too hard, you've got to have somebody run down to the washed-out areas and plant new seedlings that you had been growing in pots, in some sheltered spot, if you're going to have a chance of having food enough to "can" and store away, for winter.