Shapiro paid homage to conservative ideas in his budget address

The most notable part of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget address last week is what he left unsaid. He did not gut charter schools like his predecessor. He did not propose any radical “Green New Deal” mandates. He did not defend defunding the police. In fact, he’s planning to increase its budget.

Are we sure Shapiro is really a Democrat?

Yes, he’s still spending too much. But left-wing Democrats have got to be fuming. This is not the radical tax and spender they were hoping for. Republicans aren’t fuming over Shapiro’s policy proposals. Instead, they’ve found common ground.

State Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward noted that in her rebuttal. She also smartly laid out key policies Shapiro didn’t mention.

Shapiro failed to acknowledge his prior pledge to support school choice (such as expanding education tax credit programs), and also to champion a bill for Lifeline Scholarships. This educational savings account bill already passed last year’s House with Democratic support and would give parents the money to pick a school that better suits their kids’ needs — regardless of zip code.

Shapiro is going to hurt Philadelphia’s children of color the most if he fails to deliver on those campaign promises. The governor should have focused on educational opportunities rather than proposing an increase of nearly $1 billion in state funding for public schools — despite student performance going backward while our public education system is being funded at an all-time high after a record increase of $1.5 billion in 2022.

Pennsylvania already ranks eighth in public school spending per student at $19,900, according to an analysis by the Commonwealth Foundation, or almost $4,000 more than the national average. Our problem is not money, but the distribution method that puts money in a system, rather than in the hands of parents.

Taxpayers deserve to know where these funds are going, and why Pennsylvania students are not seeing increases in academic success indicators and proficiency as a result. More money without more opportunity does not equal better outcomes.

Another North Star for any budget is incentivizing more people to move to Pennsylvania. The most important way to do that is to ensure more businesses come to the state and create more opportunities for work. People follow jobs.

But the governor offered no plan to follow through on his campaign promise to speed up the corporate tax cuts. Not accelerating this will enshrine our place amid the bottom of lists for economically competitive states, leading to fewer opportunities for all of us, our kids, and the next generation of Pennsylvanians.

I’m tired of losing friends and family to Florida and Texas. And the thought of one day losing my kids to those states is even worse. Gov. Shapiro is a parent; he understands we need a plan now.

There’s just one problem: With House Democrats refusing to get to work, the legislative process is stalled with almost zero bills advancing. Senate Republicans, however, have shown themselves as leaders. Ward and Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman have articulated a taxpayer-centric agenda that can gain bipartisan support. The House Democrats are in power but a fractionalized hot mess. Shapiro needs to fix this fast.

One place Shapiro can start is untangling us from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). While campaigning, Shapiro promised to work with the legislature to address RGGI (both chambers voted in bipartisan majorities to block Pennsylvania’s entry into the cap-and-trade system), claiming he was unconvinced this job-killing, price-hiking program was the right path forward for Pennsylvania. But Shapiro sidestepped the issue in his address — continuing forward by default with the program.

There’s another thing the governor should fix: his math. Shapiro called for $45.9 billion in ongoing general fund spending and $43 billion in net state revenues. That’s $3 billion short. The Pennsylvania Constitution says that’s a no-no. Our state budget must be balanced.

The governor has supported many Republican ideas that put him at odds with his ever-radicalizing party. This is hard for politicians on both the left and right who are sincerely trying to practice bipartisanship while injecting some civility into public life.

After months of inaction by House Democrats, Shapiro should move fast to prove the grace period was worth it.