As students head back to school this fall, Governor Josh Shapiro faces a crucial decision. Before the end of the year he must use his authority to either opt Pennsylvania into a federal private school voucher program or reject it. For the sake of our students, our local communities, and basic fairness, Governor Shapiro must reject this federal voucher scheme.
While much of the debate around the federal school voucher program has centered on tax policy and resource allocation, the impact extends beyond the classroom into something Pennsylvanians care deeply about — student athletics. If Governor Shapiro imposes Donald Trump’s school vouchers on the commonwealth, he will only tilt the playing field further against our public schools.
Public schools field teams comprised of students who live within their school district boundaries. Often these teams are made up of students who have grown up and played together since they were children.
Private and parochial schools, on the other hand, operate as non-boundary entities, meaning they have the freedom to actively draw star athletes from across multiple townships, counties, state lines, and, in some cases, the entire globe.
This structural difference creates an inherently unlevel and unfair playing field. We see the consequences every year in Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) state championships and playoff brackets, where non-boundary private and parochial schools routinely capture a disproportionate share of titles compared to the single-digit percentage of students they represent.
And the disparity extends far beyond Friday night lights. Private schools enjoy the luxury of picking and choosing who they enroll, effectively filtering the students they matriculate through entrance exams, tuition requirements, and subjective admissions standards. They can decline or stack enrollment based on academic standing, behavior, specialized needs, or whatever else suits their fancy.
Public schools, on the other hand, open their doors and welcome every single child who walks through them. Whether a student has a disability, comes from deep poverty, is learning English, or is a star quarterback, our public schools serve them all.
Further, a 2023 court decision declared Pennsylvania’s school funding system unconstitutional. Many public schools are so underfunded by the state’s broken school funding system that they struggle to provide students with basic classroom resources, leaving their athletic programs to be funded on shoestring budgets.
If Governor Shapiro opts Pennsylvania into Trump’s school voucher program, he will guarantee that untold millions of additional tax dollars will be funneled into private school coffers. This additional money will inevitably help those institutions upgrade elite athletic facilities, expand scholarships for top recruits, and enhance amenities, further increasing their competitive advantage over our local school district teams.
We invite Pennsylvanians who care about basic fairness to call on Governor Josh Shapiro to reject Trump’s school voucher scheme and stand up for our local communities.
Instead of supporting a rigged system that favors private institutions at the expense of our local public schools, he should champion a system where everyone plays by the same rules.
Click HERE to read our full op-ed that was published in the Centre Daily Times.
