Governor Shapiro boasts a $1.1 billion increase in public building. funding, with a total of 11 million dollars

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is clearly a big fan of America's failing, sick and bloated public school system.

In fact, Shapiro, who was recently snubbed as a running mate by presidential candidate Kamala Harris, visited an elementary school in Pennsylvania on Friday to celebrate an additional $1.1 billion in public education funding he has secured.

“Shapiro and Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Dr. Khalid N. Mumin met with elementary school students, teachers and lawmakers to celebrate record funding for K-12 public education allocated through of the 2024-25 budget,” according to Fox News.

“The total increases of $1.1 billion for K-12 public education funding represent the largest year-over-year boost in Pennsylvania history,” notes Fox News.

Our bipartisan budget makes a historic $1.1 billion investment in K-12 public education and creates a new formula that brings money to the public schools that need it most.

Excited to celebrate this investment at Stout Elementary in Reading. Tune in: https://t.co/CJ5WWcjWsd

— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) August 9, 2024

Shapiro took full credit for the exorbitant increase in funding.

“In the bipartisan budget I signed into law last month, Pennsylvania will invest $11 billion in K-12 public education for our students and teachers, which is a record $1.1 billion more than last year.” , he boasted.

“We came together to make the largest investment in public K-12 education in the history of the Commonwealth, because there is nothing more important than investing in our children and their future, while building on the progress we have made in student teacher scholarships, mental health resources and school environmental repairs,” he added.

“And we're not only delivering more funding, but we're also fixing how we're going to get that money to our schools with a new formula that directs funding to the districts that need it most: districts that have been chronically underfunded.” , he concluded.

The problem, of course, is that all that taxpayer money probably won't do ANYTHING to actually help students.

As it stands, data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education show that total public school funding per pupil and adjusted for inflation has soared 48 percent since 2000 and 73 percent since 1990, according to Corey A. DeAngelis of the American Federation for Children. .

“The latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that Pennsylvania public schools received about $20,435 in funding per student in 2018, which was about 38 percent more than the national average at the time , and about 76 percent more than the Keystone State's current private school tuition,” DeAngelis wrote in 2021 National Review.

“Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau also reveals that about 29 percent of Pennsylvania's entire state budget goes to education,” he added.

In short, the educational system of Pa. it was already overfunded long before Shapiro entered the picture. But how has all this funding fared for students? not so well

Released in May 2023, the Nation's Report Card, as it's known, showed declines in math proficiency and reading proficiency, not to mention declines in U.S. history and civics test scores, surprise , surprise, as reported. Patch.com.

To be fair, some of these declines were precipitated by the Democrats' draconian reaction (closing schools) during the COVID pandemic. But critics suspect the rest of those declines were precipitated by AP teachers “teaching” kids garbage instead of facts.

Pennsylvania teacher on leave after raunchy drag show for students at LGBT club https://t.co/h0foekZ71b pic.twitter.com/d9JQUWBbXf

— BPR (@BIZPACReview) April 30, 2022

Shapiro had initially been interested in pursuing legitimate solutions such as school vouchers.

“On the campaign trail [in 2022]Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, proposed a new school voucher program aimed at students from low-income families,” according to reason magazine

“It was a surprising position for a Democratic candidate, though not entirely unprecedented. For years, a group of Philadelphia Democrats have been advocates for school choice in Pennsylvania, having seen the district's failures up close largest school in the state,” notes the libertarian magazine.

But then, predictably, he reneged on that promise after taking office by announcing his decision to veto a voucher program from the state budget.

In a statement, a group of Senate Republicans said at the time that it was “a shame that the governor does not have enough respect and standing within his own party to follow through on his promise.”

In fact, especially when the facts show that charter schools generally outperform public schools.

Important new study:

1) Charter schools are outperforming traditional public schools

2) Cards are getting better compared to TPS

3) Cards go well with poorer kids

4) Cards work better in urban than rural settings

5) None. networks work better than singleshttps://t.co/4rvFLnnxpB pic.twitter.com/Jo0uO082GD

— Ryan Fazio (@ryanfazio) June 11, 2023

Senior Staff Writer
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V. Saxena is a writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.

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