News & Brews September 24, 2021
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Lawmakers push for school choice for in-person learning
This week, the House Education Committee advanced legislation, sponsored by Rep. Carrie Lewis DelRosso, that would ensure that if children are denied in-person instruction in their school district, they could take their state education funding and use it to attend a different school. PennLive reports that the state’s largest teachers’ union, which of course fought vehemently to keep schools closed, opposes the legislation. This is no surprise as the union always opposes expanding educational options for students and instead seeks only to keep money in its coffers. The vote in committee was 14-11, with all Republicans save one voting in favor of the bill. The lone Republican to vote against giving kids greater opportunity was Meghan Schroeder of Bucks County. This is unfortunate, particularly as Bucks County parents have been vocal about wanting parents to have options for their children.
What’s in the Excellent Education for All Act?
Speaking of the push to give kids access to a great education, recently, Rep. Andrew Lewis (Dauphin County) introduced a transformative education bill that would dramatically expand opportunity for students across the commonwealth. What’s in his legislation? The Commonwealth Foundation has a summary with lots of good details.
AG Shapiro sues over GOP subpoenas for voter info
The election-investigation drama continues. Yesterday, Democrat Attorney General Josh Shapiro sued on behalf of the Wolf administration to block Republicans’ efforts to subpoena voter information in their ongoing investigation of the 2020 election. Responding to the lawsuit, Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman said Shapiro “wants to stop us from performing our constitutional duty of providing oversight of the executive branch.” For his part, Gov. Wolf writes in an op-ed in the Erie Times-News that “Republicans’ election lies are tearing our commonwealth apart.” And, there we have it.
Op-Ed: How Shapiro cost PA landowners tens of millions of dollars
Speaking of Attorney General Shapiro, yours truly has an op-ed in Broad + Liberty outlining how Shapiro cost 14,000 Pennsylvania natural gas royalty owners tens of millions of dollars in payments from Chesapeake Energy by refusing to resolve a lawsuit against the energy company.