As Governor Josh Shapiro continues to be talked about as a potential running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris, some public education advocacy groups are urging Harris to look elsewhere.
In a letter addressed to Harris this week, more than two dozen groups from across the country pointed to Shapiro’s record on publicly funded private school vouchers.
Shapiro broke with his party when he supported legislation to give families taxpayer money to pay for private school tuition during his campaign for governor in 2022. Many Democrats nationwide oppose such policies, while Republicans have deemed them a priority; the 2024 GOP platform states universal school choice should be a reality “in every state in America.”
Meanwhile, the conservative Heritage Foundation’s proposed agenda for a second Trump administration — Project 2025 — includes measures to funnel federal education funds directly to families through education savings accounts.
Shapiro ultimately line-item vetoed plans to give families with kids in struggling schools $100 million for private school vouchers during last year’s budget negotiations. Nor did vouchers make it into the budget Shapiro signed earlier this month, despite support from state GOP leaders and celebrities like Jay-Z.
Still, advocates like Carol Burris say Shapiro is leaving the door open for future voucher funding. Burris is the executive director of the Network for Public Education Action, one of the signatories speaking out against Shapiro.
“We've been concerned about Governor Shapiro and we have been trying to convince him to change his position for a long time,” Burris said. “And those concerns have fallen on deaf ears.”
The letter to Harris namechecks Pennsylvania billionaire Jeffrey Yass, who has funneled millions of dollars into political action committees (PACs) that support pro-school choice candidates. When running for governor, Shapiro received small campaign donations from two PACs — Excellent Schools PA and Education Opportunity PAC — largely funded by Yass.
Advocates urged Harris to select a nominee who “unabashedly supports and defends public education.”
“For example, nominees such as Governors Roy Cooper (North Carolina), Andy Beshear (Kentucky), and Tim Walz (Minnesota) have been vocal champions for public education in their states,” the letter states. “We find it incumbent upon us to note that Governor Josh Shapiro (Pennsylvania) has not, and instead has supported voucher schemes pushed by well-funded billionaires from Pennsylvania like Jeffrey Yass.”
On Wednesday night, Democratic representative and chair of the House Education Committee Pete Schweyer (D-Allentown) took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to defend Shapiro’s record.
“I think actions speak louder than words. Governor Shapiro's actions were vetoing vouchers and not putting it in his budget,” Schweyer later told WESA. “Those were the actual actions he took and I think that says a lot more than anything else.”
Schweyer called attempts to conceal those actions “either intentionally or unintentionally misleading,” adding that he didn’t want “misinformation” about Shapiro’s accomplishments during his first term as governor to go unchecked.
The budget Shapiro signed earlier this month includes $1.1 billion in new K-12 education spending. Public school advocates in Pennsylvania had hoped for more, given last year’s landmark ruling declaring the state’s school funding system unconstitutional.
But they largely lauded the budget passage, and are advocating now for a long-term structure to continue these investments in public schools.
The budget also included $100 million to reimburse school districts for cyber charter tuition payments, as well as policy changes to how the state calculates that tuition to take effect in 2025. Those measures together are expected to save school districts $69 million next school year.
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for the governor pointed to those recent investments.
“In his time in office, Governor Shapiro has consistently delivered historic increases in public education funding and finally, after decades of inaction, moved Pennsylvania towards adequately and equitably funding our public schools,” said spokesperson Manuel Bonder.
“Despite being the only Governor in the nation with a divided legislature – and despite bad faith attacks from all sides – Josh Shapiro has been a champion for public education and delivered real results.”
