DV Journal

Pennsylvania lost 10,408 residents between July 2022 and July 2023, the U.S. Census said.  After the 2000 Census, Pennsylvania lost a congressional seat because so many residents sought their fortunes elsewhere.

Hoping to reverse this trend, on Tuesday the Republican-led state Senate nearly unanimously passed a bipaartisan package of bills dubbed “Grow PA.”

“Everyone knows we have a declining population in Pennsylvania, and our workforce is shrinking as Pennsylvanians age,” Sen. Tracy Pennycuick (R-Montgomery) told DVJournal. “So we came together, and leadership did a great job of putting this together.”

Elizabeth Stelle, director of policy analysis for the free market think tank, agreed.

“The Commonwealth Foundation applauds Pennsylvania Senate Republicans—and state Sen. Scott Martin (R-Lancaster) in particular—for its leadership in advancing much-needed higher education reform in the commonwealth. The passage of Grow PA illustrates the Senate Republican’s commitment to supporting our students and future workforce,” Stelle said.

“Grow PA’s reforms provide student-centered funding, ensuring financial aid benefits students directly. From technical programs and community colleges to four-year universities, Grow PA funds students regardless of their choice of higher education. It prioritizes student choice—not bureaucracy—and allocates resources to the fields of study our state needs the most,” she said.

“Grow PA links accountability and results, tying scholarship grants to student success in high-demand fields, such as health care and agriculture. This approach makes higher education more affordable and aligns educational programs with the demands of our state’s key industries. As a result, students graduate better prepared, collect less student debt, and have a greater chance to secure gainful employment.”

The Grow PA Scholarship Grant Program will offer grants of up to $5,000 per year for in-state students who attend college in Pennsylvania, pursue a degree in a high-demand industry, and agree to live and work in that industry in Pennsylvania after graduation.

Students who receive grants would be required to live and work in Pennsylvania for at least 15 months for each year they accept the grant. Otherwise, the grant is converted into a loan.

A Grow PA merit scholarship program also attracts high-performing out-of-state students to a Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) school.

Another bill would expand the Ready to Succeed Scholarship Program, which provides scholarships to promising students to cover the cost of post-secondary education. The bill would increase household income limits from $126,000 to $175,000 and allow students with at least a 2.5 GPA to qualify.

Pennycuick was the lead sponsor of a bill to help foster children.

The measure would expand the Fostering Independence Tuition Waiver Program, which waives higher education tuition and fees for foster children in the foster care system and adopted children. Under the bill, the program would include eligible nonresident students for undergraduate courses at PASSHE schools.

“Many young, talented individuals are simply in need of a chance to succeed. This is especially true for foster care children, who often face significant barriers when seeking access to postsecondary education,” said Pennycuick. “Let’s give foster care kids across the nation the opportunity they seek right here in Pennsylvania.”

She hopes those former foster children will continue to live as contributing members of Pennsylvania society.

“We’ve got phenomenal schools in Pennsylvania,” she said. “We have some top-notch universities. I think it’s a great way to grow Pennsylvania and bring kids that need an opportunity here.”

Another bill would impose performance-based metrics to funding for state-related universities, including the University of Pittsburgh, the Pennsylvania State University, and Temple University.

Stelle added, “Grow PA links accountability and results, tying scholarship grants to student success in high-demand fields, such as health care and agriculture. This approach makes higher education more affordable and aligns educational programs with the demands of our state’s key industries. As a result, students graduate better prepared, collect less student debt, and have a greater chance to secure gainful employment.”

The bills will now be taken up by the House.

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During a recent “fireside chat” with the Northhampton County chapter of Moms for Liberty, GOP U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick spoke as a dad about public policy issues like protecting girls-only sports and spaces in public schools.

“As the father of six daughters, this resonates with me so much. The very idea of allowing  biological males to compete with biological females is fundamentally unfair.

“It guts women’s sports,” McCormick went on. While Title IX protects girls and women’s sports and education, adding biological males “is part of a broader ideological shift.”

McCormick added that, as a parent, he’s concerned about content on topics like sex and gender being introduced to children too young to process it.

“Our schools are introducing transgender ideology to young children before they are old enough to form their own views as adults. And so I think it’s deeply troubling. It’s something that I would be completely opposed to as a senator…We need to get commonsense back.”

The Republican candidate also slammed his opponent, three-term Democrat Sen. Bob Casey Jr., for a letter Casey wrote last year claiming concerns about transgender athletes competing in college and high school sports are “overgeneralized.”

Also at the event was Betsy DeVos, who served as President Donald Trump’s secretary of education.

“This is an issue very timely because the rule the Biden administration has put forward that would extend the definition of gender to include gender identity, the downstream ramifications of that you can’t begin to really articulate all the different ways in which it would negatively impact everything in our culture which already has lots of challenges,” DeVos said.

She called the change, which is set to take effect in August, “fundamentally unfair” and urged people to contact their members of Congress to oppose this rule.

“Bob Casey had a chance to do the right thing and to vote against this,” said DeVos. “And to dismiss it and say it’s not a real problem is absolutely false.”

McCormick said decried the nation’s academic achievement gap compared to other advanced nations.

“We have lost progress and that’s while spending a trillion dollars over the last 50 years on the Department of Education,” he said.

Meanwhile, America is losing a generation to “woke” ideology.

“Just turn on the television and see those kids marching on campuses. They don’t know the difference between right and wrong, between good and evil. It’s not just antisemitism. It’s anti-Americanism. Only about a third of (college students) believe America is exceptional.”

“And my recollection of the history that I was taught is that by any measure, analytically, America has been an extraordinary success…liberating the world from the Nazis, winning the Cold War,” said McCormick. “And it’s had some dark chapters, dark chapters that we’ve overcome and we’re still overcoming. It’s imperfect. But it’s a great source of liberty and wealth for the world. That’s the history that’s unfortunately not being taught. It shows up in our recruiting numbers. It shows up on our campuses. And it’s because of, among other things, this ideology.”

McCormick, who grew up in Bloomsburg, noted that both his parents were teachers, that he went to public schools and that teachers and coaches were the most important influences on his life. A high school wrestler, he went to West Point, became an 82nd Airborne paratrooper, was a successful Pittsburgh businessman and a hedge fund CEO, before entering politics.

“If you have a generation that doesn’t really believe in American exceptionalism, who don’t understand our history, who don’t have the skills, the capabilities to take on this generation of challenges,” McCormick said.  “We are in a complicated world.  The rest of the world is not standing idle.  They’re moving forward.”

One “blessing” of COVID was that parents saw what their schools were teaching their kids and got more involved, he said. McCormick supports school choice.

“That opportunity will create better educational outcomes, that competition will create better opportunity, that competition will create more honesty.  That competition is the pathway to creating equal opportunity for all,” he said.

For DeVos, the big-picture problem is the power of government schools and teachers unions. “The system to which most kids are subjected to today is essentially a monopoly. Unless you have the resources to do something different, your children are headed by a monopolistic structure, and we see from the very top of it, which is the teachers’ union, the AFT and, the NEA, and all the allied organizations, have continued to influence down to the lowest level everything that has gone on in the system.”

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For an alternate point of view, see: “Counterpoint: Vouchers are Not the Civil Rights Issue of Our Time”

On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court took a historic step toward ending injustice with its decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Politicians once stood in the schoolhouse door as a barrier to keep minorities out.

The new civil rights challenge is to break through the barrier that’s trapping minority children in failing government schools today.

Teachers unions.

Teachers unions exploited the pandemic, holding the education of America’s children hostage to extract ransom payments from taxpayers. Yet, the remote learning they pushed revealed that many schools focused more on indoctrination than education. Unions overplayed their hand and awakened a sleeping giant: parents.

As I explain in “The Parent Revolution: Rescuing Your Kids from the Radicals Ruining Our Schools,” conservatives have since doubled down to provide all families with the freedom to choose how to educate their children. And remarkably, in the last three years, 11 states with Republican-controlled legislatures have passed universal school choice initiatives.

School choice shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Actually, it isn’t among voters. RealClear Opinion Research polling found that a supermajority of Republicans, Democrats, and independents support school choice. Further, University of Houston polling found that 73 percent of Black Democrats support private school vouchers for low-income families in Texas.

Indeed, the problem is that the Democratic Party is a subsidiary of the teachers unions. In fact, unions engage in what is tantamount to money laundering. In 2022, 99.97 percent of campaign contributions from the American Federation of Teachers went to Democrats. Make no mistake, this one-sided cycling of cash has been taking place for decades. And politicians listen to the special interest dollars over their own constituents.

The public school system — more accurately, the “government school system” — spends  $20,000 in taxpayer money per student annually. However, the average private school tuition is less than $13,000 annually. Taxpayers’ money should be redirected to families to empower them to choose the education provider that best meets their needs and aligns with their values. That’s the most economical and democratic approach to education.

The government school system discriminates by ZIP code and is rife with inequality. For example, there are dozens of government-run Baltimore schools in which no student is proficient in math. The government school system is also markedly divided along racial lines. A preponderance of evidence finds that school-choice initiatives yield integration. Lo and behold, several staunch segregationists locked arms with teachers unions to oppose school choice in the 1950s after the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling. 

Today, as it was then, education freedom is the great equalizer.

If the ideologues running teachers unions were honest, they would label the vast disparities in government-run schools “systemic racism.” Yet, they don’t because the apparent solution — giving families the right to choose their children’s education — would diminish their power.

Fortunately, some Democratic politicians are finally breaking with teachers unions. Legislators in Georgia and North Carolina joined the GOP on the issue of school choice last year. In Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro changed his education platform to include private schools right before his gubernatorial election in 2022. In Virginia, the defeat of Terry “I-don’t-think-parents-should-be-telling-schools-what-they-should-teach” McAuliffe was undoubtedly a cautionary tale.

The Louisiana House passed universal school choice by a supermajority vote of 72 to 32, and nearly 20 percent of the Democrats in the chamber voted for the bill. “As I watch children in poverty, trapped in failing schools, who can hardly read, I’d be damned if I will continue to defend the status quo,” said Rep. Jason Hughes from the floor.

Eleven percent of Florida’s House Democrats voted for universal school choice last year. This year, three Democrats in the Missouri House voted to expand school choice, and Democratic Sen. Justin Wayne made a consequential vote for school choice in Nebraska.

If enough Democratic officials locked arms and listened to their constituents, they could once and for all break free from the militants running teachers unions. If they don’t, sooner rather than later, they will be excoriated and punished by parents, who have emerged as one of the most potent voting blocks in modern American politics.

For an alternate point of view, see: “Point: Parents Must End the Teachers Unions’ Stranglehold on Education”

In 1958, three years after the Brown v. Board of Education order to integrate American schools, the Texas legislature debated a plan that would offer vouchers to parents who opposed the idea that their children would learn in diverse racial settings. Echoing similar efforts throughout the U.S. South, the Texas bill left no ambiguity about the voucher’s purpose. “Such aid,” the legislation read, “should be given only upon affidavit that the child was being withdrawn from the public schools due to the parents’ dislike of integration.”

That voucher bill failed, and 67 years later—70 years this month after the Brown decision itself—Texas still has yet to pass a voucher system. But I think about this piece of legislation every time I hear the claim, from Donald Trump on down, that vouchers and related school choice bills are “the civil rights issue of our time.”

No. They are not.

In the early days of modern voucher systems that use taxpayer funds for private K-12 tuition—1990 through roughly 2010—vouchers were largely limited to students in a handful of urban settings like Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Washington, D.C. That fact, combined with firm albeit slowly lifting caps on income for participants, meant that vouchers went disproportionately to children of color.

A handful of studies through 2002 showed those students realized some academic gains as a result. Over the past decade, however, as vouchers expanded into statewide systems in places like Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio, and again in Washington, D.C., those results became negative—catastrophically so. How bad? In Louisiana, for example, students who used a voucher to transfer from public to private school suffered academic declines more than three times what Hurricane Katrina did to test scores for students who survived that calamity. And like Katrina’s victims, Louisiana’s voucher users at that time were disproportionately Black.

The main culprit was the fact the best-run private schools didn’t take vouchers or the students who had them at the time. Louisiana’s system pushed students of color largely into D and F-rated private schools, and the results showed. That’s why I’ve called vouchers the education equivalent of predatory lending: all promise, no results.

Today, however, as voucher systems grow in number and in scope, those warning signs for children of color are changing into something else. With income caps lifting, and now 10 states and counting with “universal” vouchers for all children, the vast majority of new users are White and coming from wealthier communities. We’ve seen this pattern in new data from Ohio and North Carolina, as well as in Arizona.

There’s strong evidence that most of these students were already in private school even before getting the voucher. And new data shows many private schools simply raise tuition further once taxpayers begin picking up some of the tab through the emerging voucher system.

Even when they do use vouchers, students of color are disproportionately likely to leave their private schools—either because they are pushed out or for some other reason. These students are also the most likely to be struggling academically. What this means is that vouchers may provide a temporary coupon to change schools but are hardly a long-term solution to problems of racial inequality that persist across schools and communities.

Beyond the data, it’s important to note that many of the same people pushing the claim that vouchers are a civil rights issue, are also those who want to ban teaching about racial inequality in public schools. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed the nation’s largest voucher bill last year, has also repeatedly insisted that slavery had some benefits for African Americans. In Arkansas, home to some of the most important moments in actual civil rights history, the same legislation that created vouchers in that state also put strict new limits on the teaching of race in public schools—and removed African American History from the state’s list of approved AP courses.

All of this simply means that when we look beyond claims and slogans about vouchers providing a new civil rights agenda, the results suggest entirely the opposite.

Saying something doesn’t make that something so.

Although it is not the only path to success, a college degree has long been a source of pride for first-generation-to-college families like mine.  Some now question the value and purpose of college altogether.  Sensational stories describe millionaire dropouts as though that was a common occurrence.  One editorial writer went so far as to call college a “cancer.”  This can lead some prospective college students to wonder, not which college to apply to, but whether they should apply at all.

It’s time to look past the vitriol of the current narrative and to recognize the transformative value of a college education.  There are four oft-repeated misnomers about higher education—1) “Not worth it,” 2) “too elitist,” 3) “too expensive,” or that it 4) “doesn’t prepare you for the real world.”

College is worth it

First, we’ve heard that, “college isn’t worth it.”  The prospect of debt causes some to question any investment in college.  Is it worth it? Both quantitatively and qualitatively—-Yes!

The reality is that we live in an age where our trust in just about everything has gone down—partly a casualty of our 24/7 news cycle.  And though higher education is still among the most revered sectors in America, right up there with churches, small business owners and the military—the trust level for all these institutions has dropped in the last two decades.

But at the end of the day, college is still one of the very best “investments” someone can make in their life.

Quantitatively, according to repeated analyses by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a four-year degree generates an annual return of 14 percent over a 40-year career, even beating the stock market.  In other words, a college degree would yield about twice the return compared to diverting your college savings into an index fund, and five times greater than if you had invested it into bonds, gold, or real estate.  If “college” were a stock, it would be the darling of Wall Street.  And if money is your measure, studies consistently show college graduates enjoy a bump in pay of over $1 million in their lifetime (on average) over those without a degree.

Qualitatively, is a fulfilling life your goal? Numerous surveys show that college graduates poll significantly higher for indicators of happiness and fulfillment compared with their non-graduating peers. College graduates, overall, tend to be happier, enjoy longer life expectancy, have healthier lifestyles, lower probability of incarceration, higher philanthropic giving, and higher rates of community engagement.

Opportunity, access, and upward mobility

Second, the “elitist” charge is just not fair. Sure, there are some schools that cater to wealthier populations, but colleges and education generally have long been the great equalizer in America.  For many women, minorities, first-generation, and lower-income students, the path to a better life starts with a college education.  And college-aid programs like PHEAA and Pell for lower-income students, and the GI Bill for veterans, have opened the doors to college to more first-generation-to-college students than ever.

The 90 independent nonprofit colleges and universities of Pennsylvania educate 45% of all lower-income, Pell-eligible students, 49 percent of all “adult” students, 54 percent of all minority students and the largest proportion of first-generation-to-college students in the state. You may find that surprising, but in Pennsylvania, it’s actually the independent nonprofit colleges that give low-income, first-generation, adult and minority students the biggest boost and best bang for the buck.  National measuring sticks like the highly regarded Economic Mobility Index and the WSJ’s Social Mobility Ranking demonstrate that schools like these change lives and empower lower-income students.

Making College Affordable

Third, the actual net cost of a degree at these independent nonprofit schools is much lower than that “sticker price” you saw.  According to the US Department of Education, average net tuition and fees (what families actually pay after school aid and public grants) at independent nonprofit colleges in Pennsylvania is just under $13,000, less than 10 years ago (even before adjusting for inflation).  A degree from these schools is actually becoming more affordable, not less.

Preparing for an uncertain future

Fourth, we’ve heard that “college doesn’t prepare you for the real world,” and that “colleges don’t meet workforce needs.”

The average person entering the job market today will have 16 different jobs in 5-6 different fields, and the job they have 10 years from now might not even exist today.  So how can you prepare for an unknown career in an uncertain future?  When jobs become more competitive, and new technology like A.I. structurally changes our economy, the case for college is enhanced, not diminished.  “Learning how to learn” is the new essential skill in a knowledge-based economy, and higher education is the surest way to develop it.

Choosing to forgo college limits your options. There are still plenty of jobs available without a college degree, sure, but so many more opportunities are available with a college education. By 2031, 70 percent of all jobs will require at least some post-secondary education, a double-digit increase in just a decade.

Next time you read a news headline blasting higher education or questioning the merit of a college education, tune out the rhetoric and tune into these facts.

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It’s time to sound the alarm on early literacy in Pennsylvania.

Almost half of fourth graders across our state are reading below grade level, a challenge that exists in every corner of our state — from urban cities to our rural communities. Research has consistently shown that early literacy is critical to academic success and long-term achievement. A strong, evidence-based reading program, beginning in kindergarten and continuing into the third grade and beyond, gives students the best possible chance to maximize their education.

Because we are not born with the natural ability to read, the skills that lead students to become competent, lifelong readers must be explicitly and systematically taught at a young age with ample opportunity for practice and improvement.

As policymakers, we have the ability to ensure our students get the reading support they need in those early years so they can succeed later on in life.

Currently, one in five American adults struggle with reading basic sentences. For these individuals, tasks such as reading the mail, completing tax forms, or even engaging in civic duties can be nearly impossible.

Literacy cannot be a skill reserved for wealthy families and those who can afford private tutoring. Learning to read is a challenge for many, and that challenge does not discriminate.

To improve early literacy in Pennsylvania, we are sponsoring legislation mirroring a bipartisan proposal from Reps. Justin Fleming and Jason Ortitay that uses a three-pronged approach.

First, it bolsters reading instruction with evidence-based reading curricula, ensuring literacy achievement for children across the Commonwealth. Second, struggling readers will be identified through a universal screening within the first 30 days of school. Finally, looking at the screening data will help schools and educators design and implement intervention plans to prevent children from falling behind.

When states take this comprehensive approach, positive outcomes for students rise. Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina have all showed and continue to show us what is possible when a comprehensive law is adopted and implemented with fidelity.

After Mississippi’s literacy program was passed in 2013, the state rose from 49th in 4th grade reading to 21st in the nation.

After two years of statewide teacher training in the science of reading, the latest assessment results also showed that North Carolina students in grades K-4 made greater mid-year gains than students in other states using the same assessment, with the percentage of kindergarten students meeting the benchmark almost doubling from 28 percent to 56 percent.

Those are the kind of results Pennsylvania families deserve, and we can’t afford to wait. Researchers have spent decades determining which approaches work best to teach reading, but if our teachers don’t have the resources they need to educate our kids, our outcomes are unlikely to improve. The pandemic brought uncertainty and turmoil to our lives, and our kids need us now more than ever. Literacy is a great equalizer. Whether a person can read is a critical predictor of educational and lifelong success. We cannot afford to have almost half of our students falling short of that goal.

By providing support for early literacy development, our legislation has the potential to make a meaningful difference in the lives of countless Pennsylvania children and ensure they are able to reach their full potential.

Investing in education means investing in the future of our state and opening all students up to a lifetime of success.

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Three contrarian votes from Republican senators—including one from the Delaware Valley—failed to halt the confirmation of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s pick for education secretary this week.

On Monday, the Republican-controlled Senate’s education committee approved Acting Education Secretary Khalid Mumin. He was formerly superintendent of the Lower Merion and Reading School Districts. The full Senate subsequently affirmed the pick, voting 46-3 to confirm Mumin.

The three holdouts were all Republicans: Jarrett Coleman (Bucks and Lehigh), Doug Mastriano (Adams and Franklin), and John DiSanto (Dauphin County).

Coleman and Mastriano did not respond to requests for comment on their votes. DiSanto, meanwhile, said Mumin is too firmly embedded in an education system needing change.

“Pennsylvania ranks 8th nationally in per-student education spending, yet we lag in student achievement,” DiSanto told DVJournal. “The emphasis is always on more money when we need fundamental changes in the system.”

“The secretary has been part of that system for 25 years, and I don’t believe he’s capable of or interested in making the reforms needed,” he added.

Mumin began teaching in 1997. Shapiro tapped him for the acting secretary post in January, shortly before the governor’s inauguration.

The secretary won praise during his tenure as Reading superintendent. The district had been amid financial turmoil at the time of his arrival and had seen multiple superintendents in a short period. The prior director, Carlinda Purcell, had been relieved of her position after just 17 months on the job.

In 2021, the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrations selected Mumin as its Pennsylvania Superintendent of the Year, describing the significant challenges the administrator faced when he began the job.

“In 2014, when Dr. Mumin began his tenure as superintendent, he was confronted with 19 buildings of failing infrastructures, eight bargaining units without contracts for five years, and a district having little to no transparency with either staff or constituents,” the PASA said, claiming that Reading was “a district facing a financial crisis – along with a looming state takeover.”

Mumin “demonstrated visionary leadership right from the start to get the district back on a positive track and focused on academic growth and support,” the group said.

Senate Education Committee Chair Sen. Dave Argall said in a press release that the committee “performed [its] constitutional duty” in voting Mumin through.

“I look forward to working with him to improve our education system,” Argall said.

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House Republicans passed the federal Parents Bill of Rights Act on Friday over the unanimous opposition of congressional Democrats, including the Delaware Valley delegation.

The legislation expands the rights of parents to be informed about the materials their children are taught, the medical care and counseling they receive at school, and any violence that occurs on campus.

Pennsylvania Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Chester), an outspoken opponent, denounced the legislation as a “right-wing straight jacket.”

“My colleagues on the other side of the aisle often talk about being the party of small government and local control,” Scanlon said during Thursday’s floor debate. “They condemn the intrusion of the federal government into local affairs,” she continued. “But this legislation is nothing more than an attempt to nationalize our education system and mandate a one-size-fits-all approach across the country.”

“Assuming the size that fits,” she added, “is a right-wing straight jacket.”

Democrats broadly condemned the bill in general. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested the law was an example of “fascism,” while her fellow New Yorker Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries claimed Republicans were seeking to “ban books” and “bring guns into classrooms, kindergarten, and above.”

The measure passed 213-208, with five Republicans joining Democrats in opposition. Local Democratic Reps. Scanlon, Madeleine Dean, and Chrissy Houlahan voted no. Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick voted yes.

Scanlon’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

Democrats claimed the legislation is “anti-gay” and “anti-trans” because it forbids federally funded schools from hiding a student’s transgender identity from their parents. Currently, some public school systems, including some in the Delaware Valley, instruct teachers and administrations to keep children’s behavior secret from parents, even if that means lying to moms and dads.

The law also directs schools to make all reading materials within a school’s library available to parents upon request.

Pennsylvania GOP Rep. Dan Meuser wrote on Twitter that the bill would grant parents “the right to be heard,” “the right to know what their kids are being taught,” “the right to reasonably protect their children’s privacy,” and “the right to keep their kids safe.”

Rep. John Joyce, a Republican representing central Pennsylvania,  said the bill is “a strong step towards supporting Pennsylvania parents and students.”

The bill’s passage is almost certainly doomed to fail in the Democratic-controlled Senate. It would also be highly unlikely to clear President Joe Biden’s veto.

The text of the bill also stipulates that parents shall retain “the right to review, and make copies of, at no cost, the curriculum of their child’s school,” as well as the right to know if a school employee moves to “treat, advise, or address a student’s mental health, suicidal ideation, or instances of self-harm.”

Federally funded schools would also be required to obtain parental consent before “allowing a child to change the child’s sex-based accommodations, including locker rooms or bathrooms.”

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks) added to the bill an amendment requiring the federal government to assess the “costs to State educational agencies, local educational agencies, elementary schools, and secondary schools” resulting from the act.

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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro presented his first budget Tuesday, laying out $44.4 billion in spending for fiscal year 2023 in a lengthy speech to legislators.

Shapiro acknowledged divided politics would make passing any proposal more challenging, but he urged legislators to look beyond partisanship.

“Pennsylvania is one of only two states with a divided legislature,” said Shapiro. “Together, we represent many Pennsylvanians who also divided their vote… Through their ballots, they asked us implicitly to come to the table, put aside the partisan litmus tests, and deliver commonsense solutions to the very real problems that we are facing every day.”

Shapiro’s proposed budget increases spending on education as a response to a Commonwealth Court decision, spending on mental health services for students, emphasizes vocational-technical training and incentives for new police officers, nurses, and teachers to address shortages in those jobs.

“Policing is a noble profession and good people want to do it,” said Shapiro, the former state attorney general.

The proposed budget includes a $567.4 million increase or 7.8 percent for basic education and an increase of $103.8 million for special education. He also proposes taxpayer-funded free breakfast for all public school children.

Shapiro would expand the property tax and rent rebate program for seniors and the disabled.   He would also eliminate the state cell phone tax, which equals 11 percent of cell phone bills.

A new program would spend $10 million on public defenders and improve probation and parole programs to improve the state’s 64 percent recidivism rate.

Other plans would eliminate regulatory red tape for new businesses and he also urged the legislature to hasten the pace of planned business tax reductions, so companies relocate to Pennsylvania rather than other states.

“I am competitive as hell, and I am sick and tired of losing to other states,” Shapiro said.

The general fund surplus and the rainy fund are the largest in the state’s history, he noted. Their budget is based on conservative revenue estimates, he said.

However, state Republicans said, if adopted, this budget would spend down the state’s reserves and lead to future tax increases by introducing new ongoing programs without revenue streams to fund them.

Reactions from Delaware Valley politicos were largely positive from both sides of the aisle.

“After hearing the Governor’s budget address, I believe there are many areas where we will find common ground and some significant places where continued work is needed,” said Sen. Tracy Pennycuick (R-Bucks/Montgomery). “I was pleased that the governor chose to support several important family and senior-centric programs. I would have liked to have seen renewed commitment towards Lifeline scholarships and Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program (EITC) expansion to ensure that children have additional avenues to obtain a high-quality education.”

Rep. Kristin Marcell (R-Bucks), who serves on the appropriations committee said, “While I look forward to working with the governor to pass a fiscally responsible commonsense budget, how we get there is critical. The governor’s plan to deplete our budget reserves and the Rainy Day Fund is concerning. With economists projecting an economic slowdown, if not a recession, it is imperative we preserve these funds to manage any revenue shortfalls.”

Sen. Frank Farry (R-Bucks) liked some of what Shapiro proposed, including more for mental health services and removing state police funding from the transportation funding stream. He is also in favor of “right-sizing” higher education and investing in public schools.

Democratic legislators applauded Shapiro.

Sen. Amanda Cappelletti (D-Montgomery) tweeted, “Our minimum wage in PA is shameful. We must #RaiseTheWage and ensure our workers have what they need to provide for themselves and their families. I’m glad to hear @GovernorShapiro call for a $15 minimum wage during today’s budget address.”

But Commonwealth Foundation Vice President Nate Benefield said called the proposed budget “disappointing, giving the bipartisan issues Shapiro campaigned on” such as working with the legislature on getting the state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which increases electricity costs to consumers, and on school choice.

And he said as for the recent court ruling on education funding, Shapiro is wrong.

The recent education funding lawsuit ruling didn’t order “more money”.

“In fact, Pennsylvania already spends $4,000 per student more than the national average, even before last year’s record increase,” said Benefield. “What the ruling said was that every student must get a ‘meaningful opportunity.’ The only way to deliver this is through educational choice. But Gov. Shapiro walked back on his campaign promise to expand educational opportunity and instead throws money at the same broken system.”

Republican commentator Guy Ciarrocchi urged Republicans to seize the opportunity to pass GOP priorities Shapiro claims to embrace.

“Shapiro stated he wants to make it easier to get permits and licenses; eliminate the cell phone tax; cut business taxes and make it easier for students to learn trades for careers. These are commonsense ideas that the GOP has been fighting for. Pass those bills and put them on his desk—and, help the citizens of Pennsylvania,” Ciarrocchi said.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis highlighted law and order and education during a President’s Day stop in Montgomery County.

Although DeSantis has not announced a 2024 GOP presidential primary bid, his day started with speeches in New York followed by his visit to the American Legion Post in Fort Washington, before heading on to Chicago.

Several hundred politically active Republicans and elected officials warmly applauded his remarks.

“We are the nation’s fastest-growing state,” DeSantis said of Florida. “That’s just people voting with their feet, and they’re not going to go to a place that’s not managed well, that’s not governed well, that’s not safe. We’re number one. I think every year since I’ve been governor in net in-migration.” Also, Florida is “number one in economic freedom, number one in new business formation…number one in GDP growth, number one in education freedom, number one in parental involvement in education.”

The state has lower taxes, no state income tax, and a record budget surplus.

While low taxes are a good reason to move to Florida, “our commitment to public safety and our support for the men and women in law enforcement” is also a major draw he said.

“People in southeast Pennsylvania have seen a lot of the disaster in places like Philadelphia, which we’ve seen in New York City, which used to be one of the safest big cities in the world. Then you look at Chicago, Seattle… In Florida, our crime rate is at a 50-year low. So how is it you have it going up in so many of these other areas?

“We’re not any better than anybody else. We just have good policies, and we have leaders that will stand behind the people that wear the uniform.”

DeSantis contrasted his approach to law enforcement with those advocating “defund the police” politics.

“You had major cities slashing police budgets, really for ideological reasons, not that it was proven it would help the public safety,” DeSantis said. And, he added, Florida gives a $5,000 incentive to officers who move there from other states, along with other benefits. Current officers received $1,000 bonuses.

When he saw the riots of 2020 DeSantis said, “Not on my watch,” and called up the national guard. He also got the state legislature to pass an anti-rioting bill to make sure violent protesters were prosecuted.

“If you riot, if you engage in mob violence in the state of Florida, it isn’t going to be like Portland, where they take your mugshot, slap you on the wrist, and put you back on the street to do it again. In Florida, you’re not getting a slap on the wrist. You’re getting the inside of a jail cell.” Also, there are additional penalties for assaulting a police officer. “I’m not going to have these officers just be sitting ducks.”

Unlike Florida, some big cities are “putting woke ideology ahead of public safety.” DeSantis’ arguments got a boost from the latest news out of Austin, Texas, where street racers took over multiple intersections across the city, using their vehicles to spin doughnuts in the streets and lighting fireworks. They left one police officer injured and damaged several squad cars. Austin slashed police spending by 30 percent in 2021 but has since reversed course.

“Just the contempt of some of these politicians attacking police was really a low point…It has absolutely painted a target on the back of people who wear the uniform. You see it in New York City. Unfortunately, we just saw it at Temple. And I think if somebody goes out and murders a police officer, they should get the death penalty.”

The audience applauded in response. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) announced last week he would not sign any death penalty warrants and is urging an end to the policy in the state.

In Florida, “we don’t have tolerance for prosecutors who get elected, largely with big contributions from leftists like George Soros…they say it’s their job to determine what laws should be enforced. Not you, the people who make laws through your elected legislators…these prosecutors are “a law unto themselves.”

He said he removed a prosecutor who refused to enforce the law.

DeSantis pivoted to education.

“If you send your kids to school in Florida, they’re going to get an education, not a political indoctrination,” said DeSantis. “Is it okay to tell a second grader they are born in the wrong body? In Florida, we think the answer to that question is no.”

“People that said this was going to hurt me in the election are very quiet after we won by 1.5 million votes,” he said. “We did tussle with Disney. They’d had for 60 years their own government that they operated and controlled in the state of Florida. Those days are over.”

“Then you also have things like critical race theory, where they try to racialize,” said DeSantis. “If you’re a young White kid they say, ‘You’re an oppressor.’ If you’re Black they say, ‘You’re oppressed.’ And this is just crazy that they want to do this.

“So we said no critical theory in K-12 schools. And some of this critical theory is teaching that police officers are just gunning down minorities with impunity.” It creates a hatred of law enforcement in young children, he said.

Bucks County Sheriff Fred Harran introduced DeSantis.

“The police are the public, and the public are the police, and the public must have confidence in the police in order to be safe,” he said. “There must be accountability (for those who commit crimes).” While the suburban countries still adhere to that credo, many cities, including Philadelphia, do not, Harran added.

“Back when I took the test in 1986 (to become an officer), there were 1,400 people [taking the test]. Now we’re lucky if we get 100, 125.”

Afterward, Harran said he supported DeSantis “as the governor of Florida, and we’ll see what road the governor takes. Any comment (on supporting DeSantis for president) would be premature, but I like what I heard today.”

Upper Salford Area 3 GOP leader Kurt Stein said DeSantis has “a great message. And I think it resonates with everyone. We need law enforcement to be able to do their jobs without having district attorneys not obeying the laws of the state. And the most important things to people are schools and crime, and he hit all of that. Woke ideology is destroying the country our founding fathers created.”

State Sen. Tracy Pennycuick (R-Montgomery/Bucks) called DeSantis “impressive.”

“I think he has the right message at the right time,” said Rep. Craig Williams (R-Chadds Ford). “One thing we can do right now is stand up with our votes and say, ‘We support our police.’”

And Liz Havey, Montco Republican chair, said, “DeSantis talked about solutions and the crowd loved it. Law enforcement is critical to society and working with them and supporting them like Gov. DeSantis has helped Florida have a  record low crime rate–just the opposite of what we are living with in Philadelphia, where elected officials have done the opposite.”

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