School Choice Movement Ready to Spread to Blue States: Will Pennsylvania Be Next?

​Texas is politically poised this year to become the last big red state to adopt a statewide public school choice program. Vince Bielski of RealClear Investigations surveyed the school choice movement in the aftermath of this development and reports that it is now ready to push into blue-state territory.
 
Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania is the Democrat most likely to break open the first cracks in the blue wall public teachers unions have erected against school choice. After being compelled to line-item veto a voucher proposal for low-income children, Gov. Shapiro called school choice “unfinished business.” Bielski reports:
 
“The fate of another voucher program [in Pennsylvania] may depend on whether a few Democrats are willing to break with House leadership and risk political payback, according to a veteran of Pennsylvania battles … ‘Governor Shapiro has a chance to deliver on his promise to expand educational opportunity for underserved children,’ said Tommy Schultz, CEO of the advocacy group American Federation for Children. ‘It will require bold leadership to bring House leadership to the table and get it done.’”
 
Opponents of school choice charge that vouchers for private schools will lead to two separate school systems, leading to the defunding of public schools. However, Bielski reports that such programs “have been restricted mainly to lower-income parents who may be dissatisfied with lax discipline and lackluster instruction – problems exacerbated by the pandemic – at their public schools. All told, private choice programs enroll only about 2% of all K-12 students.”
 
That number shows there is both room for competition to inspire improvement among public schools, and much more room for private school choice in states both red and blue.

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