The state has a public education system with students trapped in failing schools. The governor wants to create the school choice funding they need to escape these schools. However, the governor’s own party in the state House refuses to pass such a proposal despite its popularity, resulting in a legislative stalemate.
For Pennsylvanians, this story is familiar. But it’s also familiar to Texans. There are striking similarities between Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and their struggles to pass their education agendas into law—but one huge difference is their approach to leadership.
Just like Shapiro, Abbott endorsed educational freedom throughout his political career. Abbott publicly stated school choice is his top legislative priority, even declaring it an “
emergency item” in his 2023 State of the State address.
Just like in
Pennsylvania, school choice is popular and widely supported in the Lone Star State. A recent survey shows
58 percent of Texans support Abott’s Education Savings Account (ESA) proposal.
“Empowering parents to choose the best educational path for their child remains an essential priority this session,”
said Abbott in a press release. “A majority of Texans from across the state and from all backgrounds support expanding school choice.”
The Texas House leadership, like Pennsylvania’s, let politics get in the way of improving and expanding educational opportunities. Though not as combative as Pennsylvania House Majority Leader
Matt Bradford, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan has
been far less supportive of school choice than his governor likes.
Here’s where our protagonists have handled adversity differently. Two roads diverged in the woods, and these two governors took different paths—and that’s making all the difference.
Abbott plays hardball with legislators. The Texas governor vetoed occupational licensing legislation, writing in his proclamation, “This bill can be reconsidered at a future special session only after education freedom is passed.”
Rather than sit back and wait for the next legislative session, Abbott called a special
30-day legislative session with a limited agenda: pass the ESA bill. Sadly, this type of bold leadership—what Pennsylvanians need and want—is absent in the Keystone State.
Abbott’s actions starkly contrast with Shapiro’s. Rather than double down on his campaign promise, Shapiro line-item vetoed the very program he publicly endorsed: Lifeline Scholarships, known as the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS). The Lifeline Scholarship/PASS Program will provide Educational Opportunity Accounts to kids stuck in the lowest-performing schools.
Shapiro chose political expediency over student achievement. But Shapiro’s flip-flop disrupted the 2023–24 state budget negotiations. Already past the deadline, Pennsylvania’s budget remains unfinished amid Shapiro’s uninspiring efforts to speed things along.
Rather than act, Shapiro has passed the buck, blaming the budget impasse on a “
divided legislature” and calling Lifeline Scholarships/PASS “
unfinished business” for legislators to handle.
While the Pennsylvania legislature remained in recess and the budget impasse continued, Shapiro didn’t pressure the legislature to return to work. Instead, he went on a self-promotion tour, bragging about the quick turnaround
rebuilding I-95 and
headlining an out-of-state convention. When legislators returned to finalize the budget with the fiscal code bills (which now include Lifeline Scholarships/PASS in the Senate-approved version), Shapiro remained absent.
The scuttlebutt is Shapiro wants to run for president.
However, if Shapiro aspires to break through on the national level, he had better recognize that everybody is keeping a close eye on what he does in Pennsylvania. The Associated Press published an
article that described Shapiro as “a rising political star” and highlighted how his support for Lifeline Scholarships/PASS crosses “the partisan school choice divide.”
This article was syndicated in more than 200 publications nationwide. Suffice it to say, the nation has its eye on Shapiro.
Shapiro could make national headlines by delivering educational freedom. By signing Lifeline Scholarships/PASS into law, he would be
the first Democratic governor to defy traditional party lines and sign significant school choice legislation into law. Shapiro has a unique opportunity to reset his legislative strategy and produce something that would
truly raise his national profile.
Shapiro could learn a thing or two from Abbott. As they say in Texas, let’s take this bull by the horns.
Charles Mitchell is president and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation, Pennsylvania’s free-market think tank.
