Despite Jay-Z and Josh Shapiro’s support, Pa. didn’t approve school vouchers this year. Here’s why.

Pennsylvania lawmakers and advocates were prepared for a tough budget fight over school vouchers this year.

But it fizzled out.

Despite support for vouchers from Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, GOP leaders, and even Jay-Z, a proposed $100 million voucher program was not a major sticking point in budget negotiations.

Instead, legislative leaders reached a budget deal that includes expanding existing tax credit programs to help families send their children to private schools.

But the contentious debate over a voucher program to send students in low-performing schools to private school could return next year.

Here’s a look at some of the reasons why vouchers didn’t get approved, and what could come next.

We got a preview into Shapiro’s unlikeliness to take up the voucher issue last year following the state Democratic Party’s winter meeting, where national DNC leaders requested they set the issue aside during a critical election year.

Unlike Shapiro, who has sought to make school choice an area where he can reach across the aisle, many Democrats oppose vouchers. Teachers unions, which contribute to Democratic campaigns, lobby strongly against vouchers and argue that they take money away from struggling public schools. But the issue can be more complicated for officials in Philadelphia, where some lawmakers support school choice, in part because staggering achievement gaps exist between public school students in the city vs. surrounding counties.

In addition, unity within the Democratic Party is more important than ever, as the party views Pennsylvania as a must-win battleground state in the presidential election.

Shapiro still called for a voucher program to be part of the state’s new budget as part of his budget address in February. And House Democrats and Shapiro had been willing to compromise and create a new tax credit program, which was rejected by the Senate GOP leaders during budget talks.

Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) said the tax credit pitch would have made it too hard for private schools to participate.

And Shapiro was unwilling to use his political capital or “bully pulpit” to get the issue into a final budget deal, Pittman said.

“Unlike last year, we saw no evidence that the governor was full-throatedly behind actually making it happen,” Pittman added.

And the political calculation was clear to Pittman, too: “It would be very difficult to have an intense campaign occur in 2024 and have the leader of the Democratic Party sign a voucher bill and explain that to the base of the Democratic Party,” he added.

Shapiro’s office declined to comment.

Progressive groups and labor unions were caught by surprise last year, when a school voucher program appeared in a final budget deal between Shapiro and the Senate GOP. They didn’t let that happen again.

Those groups coordinated their anti-voucher efforts. Once rumors circulated that vouchers were a likely possibility in the final budget deal, Rachel Weisberg, a political strategist for the Working Families Party, said she mobilized them to come together with one voice to block it.

“Imagine it’s Election Day in a month, and right now, you’re losing,” Weisberg recalled someone telling her in May, before budget talks began in earnest. “What do you have to do to win?”

The Working Families Party, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, and more than a dozen other groups worked on email campaigns and lobbied at the state Capitol. Another union, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 32BJ, knocked on doors around Philadelphia. With support from Councilmember Kendra Brooks, the group got Philadelphia City Council to approve a resolution denouncing vouchers.

“We can’t divert any of our hard-earned public tax dollars to private programs,” House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) said on the Capitol steps at a June anti-voucher rally.

Jay-Z’s company, Roc Nation, was one of the biggest hitters to join the debate. But he didn’t get involved until June, when budget talks were already underway.

Roc Nation launched a series of “Dine and Learn” conversations around Philadelphia to inform families about the benefits of vouchers.

Desiree Perez, the company’s CEO, said Roc Nation supports issues like school vouchers because they provide “immediate solutions” and improve children’s lives. But she conceded that they got involved too late to sway the conversation.

“Had we known, we would have become involved sooner, but now we’re aware for the future,” Perez said.

The philanthropic arm of the company has previously focused on criminal justice issues, and this marked the first time the organization waded into state politics around school vouchers.

Roc Nation will continue to advocate for the issue this year and next, she added.

“The advantage is that now we have all year to fully inform the communities on the options available for the families,” Perez added. “We love Pennsylvania and look forward to continuing to uplift and support different communities across the state.”

In absence of a deal on the long-sought Republican priority of school vouchers, lawmakers agreed to set aside more money for two existing tax credit programs.

Those programs have grown rapidly over the last few years, now topping $630 million in the new budget, said Sen. Scott Martin (R., Lancaster) after the budget passed earlier this month.

The existing programs allow businesses or individuals to get tax credits in exchange for donating to a school or scholarship fund. Families can then apply to send their child to a private school using those funds.

The tax credit programs have high income maximums, and only one of them is targeted to help students who live in low-performing districts. Many Democratic lawmakers note that they are ripe for waste, fraud, and abuse, but still supported a $75 million increase in the programs as part of the $47.6 billion budget deal.

These programs are different from vouchers, which would directly give parents state money to use toward school tuition and other expenses.

Next year won’t be a major election year — though another gubernatorial election will be just around the corner.

Republicans and conservative groups have promised to hold Shapiro accountable for failing to pass a voucher program, especially as he prepares to seek a second term. And Senate Republicans maintain that vouchers are a top priority and will continue to push for their enactment, Pittman said.

For their part, progressive groups know they have a continued fight to prevent vouchers from getting approved in the state.

“We’re clear that this is not a one-and-done fight,” said Weisberg, of the Working Families Party. “But I feel like we’re victorious in this moment.”