These backroom deals helped Gov. Josh Shapiro complete the Pa. state budget

HARRISBURG — In the days following a breakdown in state budget negotiations, lawmakers packed their bags and left the Capitol.

So did Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Shapiro flew to Indiana, Pa., a small borough about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh where Republican Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman lives. They met in the town’s airport the week after budget talks stalled, and the Democratic governor eventually agreed to put some of his budget priorities on the back burner.

Shapiro also made a promise to Republican Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, saying his administration would address her concerns about a state board overseeing charter schools.

It worked.

Ward called the Senate back to work this month and sent the budget to Shapiro’s desk, avoiding an extended standoff.

What looked like Shapiro’s first misstep as governor — upsetting both parties during budget negotiations over a school voucher program — ended in a victory. He flexed his ability to make deals, fulfilled a campaign promise to work across the aisle, and salvaged his relationship with GOP leaders. Their deal allowed state money to resume flowing to school districts, counties, and critical social service programs.

But the work isn’t done.

The deal means some of the governor’s new initiatives, such as extra funding for struggling school districts, may not come to fruition until next year. Shapiro, who has drawn national attention since taking office in January and is rumored to have presidential aspirations, is sure to face other fights with Republicans. And GOP lawmakers plan to hold him to the promises and concessions he’s made.

“So we live to fight another day,” Ward said in an interview.

Shapiro, for his part, said he’s not one to give up.

“I just stayed on it,” he told The Inquirer last week. “While we’re never going to agree on everything, we have to keep at it. We’ve got to keep talking. We’ve got to keep communicating.”

Budget negotiations fell apart ahead of the June 30 deadline after Pittman and other GOP senators accused Shapiro of backtracking on his support for a private-school voucher program, which he ultimately vetoed this month.

Shapiro, in turn, blamed Republicans for not working to earn votes for their version of the budget in the House, where Democrats, who oppose vouchers, held a narrow majority. He told legislative leaders to come together to finish the budget, but then stepped in to negotiate with Pittman directly. Pittman, for his part, was willing to negotiate and repair the relationship with Shapiro.

The Senate majority leader said he expressed his disappointment with Shapiro over the vouchers, which he said were “taken off the table by the governor, unilaterally and unexpectedly. It greatly impacted the confidence that members of the caucus I represent have in our ability to establish consensus on big issues.”

Now they’re working to reset that relationship, Pittman said.

Ward, meanwhile, originally said she wouldn’t recall the Senate to send the budget to Shapiro before September.

She changed her tune earlier this month, with assurances that a handful of Shapiro’s budget initiatives would be subject to further negotiation.

Because the school voucher program faced a veto, Ward said she needed an agreement from Shapiro to help students who attend failing schools.

Ward told The Inquirer that Shapiro promised to improve the efficiency of the state’s Charter Appeals Board, which can overrule school boards’ decisions about opening new charter schools or closing existing ones. GOP leaders said they want that board, chaired by Shapiro’s secretary of education, to do more to help students attend charter schools in Philadelphia.

Shapiro and Ward still have not spoken since he announced he’d veto the voucher program, but their chiefs of staff have been working together, she said.

“We have to find a way to move on,” Ward told The Inquirer. “This is over. We got what we got ... and we have to move forward.”

Ward said she intends to call the Senate back into session before the end of August to finish negotiating a fiscal code bill, which dictates how the state can spend money allocated in the budget.

Lawmakers will need to negotiate additions to the budget that Shapiro and Democrats support, such as extra money for the schools, funding for public defenders’ offices, and a home repair program. Republicans haven’t promised to approve those measures, but a spokesperson for House Democrats said they plan to fight for them.

That process may go well into the fall. The House is not scheduled to reconvene until the end of September, after a special election to fill a vacant seat in a Pittsburgh district that’s expected to restore Democrats’ one-seat majority.

By completing a budget deal, Shapiro avoided the predicament of his predecessor, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who had a nine-month budget standoff with GOP leaders during his first year in office that hurt his approval ratings — at least temporarily.

Berwood Yost, executive director of polling at Franklin and Marshall College, said this year’s brief standoff is unlikely to hurt Shapiro’s 57% approval rating. The more important question, he said, is whether Shapiro can restore his relationships with legislative leaders.

“It’s important to sustain those relationships if the governor wants to get things done,” Yost said. “You have to have that trust with legislators.”

In his veto memo last week, Shapiro said he’d continue to support the private-school voucher program he helped create with Senate Republicans this year.

But he’s likely to continue facing strong opposition over school choice from fellow Democrats, who often oppose diverting tax dollars to private or charter schools. Supporting school vouchers is a “thorny issue” for Democratic candidates because they often receive support from teachers unions and public education advocates, Yost said.

And Republicans want to hold Shapiro to his promises.

“We’re going to keep fighting for these scholarships,” Ward said. “We’re not going to let up. We are letting these students down. There are kids in failing schools around the state that may not even be a safe place. We have to keep fighting for them.”

Pittman said the Senate GOP will still try this year to approve a school voucher program.

Shapiro, asked whether he wishes he handled budget negotiations differently, said he’s “constantly in a state of personal reflection.”

“I want to work harder, and every day I want to learn. And I certainly learned in this process,” he said. “I’m looking forward to taking what I learned and continuing to apply that in this bipartisan government to getting meaningful things done.”

Republicans, however, are skeptical after his perceived flip-flop on vouchers.

“A handshake means something. It always means something, and a look in the eye means something,” Ward said. “And now we know at least what we’re dealing with. And we will find a way to make things work.”