School voucher program brings state House and Senate at impasse in budget bill
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Governor Josh Shapiro is planning to line-item veto a $100 million appropriation in order to sign and approve the state's budget bill.
It comes after the House and Senate failed to compromise when it came to approving a new school voucher program.
The state House and Senate struggled to compromise on a program that would pay for students who currently attend low-income public schools to get a private education using state funds.
"The voucher system, it takes money away from public education," President of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers Nina Esposito-Visgitis said.
The voucher program caused a heated debate between the state Senate and House during final agreements on a $45 billion state budget.
The program, which Shapiro has supported, would allow parents to send their children to private school districts rather than low-income public schools.
While the spending plan was at an impasse, Pittsburgh's teachers union shared its disgust with the idea of a voucher program.
"It is such a disservice to public education. Because when they should be working on fixing our broken, and I mean broken, funding system to our schools, they want to divert money from the public schools to private institutions," Esposito-Visgitis said.
The teachers union has been fighting against the program since day one, saying extra funding should stay with public schools to focus on other issues like mental health.
"Help public schools where 90 percent of the kids go. Quit diverting money to things like charter schools and a voucher system that helps very few and had so many flaws in it," Esposito-Visgitis said.
While the teachers union wants the money to stay in public schools, some parents have their own opinion.
"I feel like it should definitely stay in public schools just to make them better. More kids go to public schools, and private schools already have definitely more money than public schools," said Eliana Weaver, a South Side resident.
On Thursday, Shapiro said he planned to line-item veto the program from the budget in order to push the rest through.