Ever since Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro put the kibosh on his campaign promise that would have assisted students shackled in poorly performing public schools with $100 million in Lifeline scholarships, plenty of ink has been spilled arguing his budget flip-flop.
Shapiro’s line-item veto will have to wait until Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward reconvenes the Senate on Sept. 18, unless he flips back, which is an overdose of wishful thinking.
In retrospect, Shapiro’s broken promise should not surprise. Democrats have never been too kid friendly. Abortion is not just a plank in the Democrat’s platform but an entire stage. And their overt allegiance to the teachers’ unions that includes the indoctrination of critical race theory, transgender ideology and the COVID-19 closures cannot be denied.
Public schools in most urban settings are focused on pushing kids through “the system” where many are D students. The only Bs and Cs they get are in hepatitis. When done, more than their fair share find themselves not at a state university but working toward tenure in a state penitentiary. In other words, the continued plethora of failing public schools throughout our urban plain is just business as usual.
Shapiro, his children, and plenty of other Democrats are products of private school educations; yet they oppose allowing tax dollars to follow all students that would provide a choice in schools. The only choice Democrats believe parents should have is whether or not to terminate their child’s beating heart.
What ever happened to the mantra: “A mind is a terrible thing to waste?” Instead, the tune Democrats sing in chorus: “Private education for me, but not for thee.”
The longer such Democrat hypocrisy is tolerated, the larger the education and wealth gaps become which only breeds resentment and division. America with a caste system will be a very different country.
One revealing article by the President and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation Charles Mitchell brings to light the plight of one Philadelphia mother of five, Tamika Nwalipenja. With Nwalipenja’s children stuck in Philadelphia’s lowest-achieving schools, she was able to obtain two Lifeline scholarships. With Shapiro’s impending veto and with state caps on funding for EITC and OSTC scholarships, Nwalipenja has become a lottery player with the grand prize being an education for at least two of her five children.
All educationally starved children in a failing urban public school are hostages and their only escape is by lottery since the competition for such scholarships is so great. Wealthy folks like Shapiro do not play the lottery; rather, they jockey and cajole political influence because the odds of winning are so much greater.
Prior to his election, Shapiro preached: “I believe every child of God deserves a shot here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And one of the best ways we can guarantee their success is making sure that every child has a quality education.” Shapiro’s post-election translation: “people like Nwalipenja better keep playing the educational lottery.”
Mitchell believes the solution lies in increasing these established scholarships with the false hope of eliminating waiting lists. Rather than taking the Democrat approach by throwing more money at the problem, the answer lies within the minority community. In the article, Nwalipenja is never asked if she voted and for whom.
Wash, rinse, and repeat voting has enduring consequences.
The plantation voters of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Scranton/Wilkes Barre don’t seem to mind and do as their Democrat overseers direct them, which ultimately carries Pennsylvania. All minority groups including Asians overwhelmingly vote Democrat who sell them out – electoral tribalism at its finest.
Since Democrats are against vouchers and school choice, these communities place their children’s educational fortunes on a lottery system.
Thomas Sowell, who is America’s greatest living philosopher and economist and was raised in New York’s Harlem is virtually unknown throughout the Black community but knows firsthand the longstanding effects of a public education. “Education is not merely neglected in many of our schools today but is replaced to a great extent by ideological indoctrination.”
Keeping poor minority children in failing schools feeds the cycle of dependency and results in votes for Democrats. And in the next election these communities will reflexively vote Democrat proving there is no substitute for a quality education.
