Pennsylvania governor gives $5M to Islamic school, boosting hopes for school choice 

Giving state money to religious schools is apparently OK in Pennsylvania, a battleground state for school choice.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who once said he supports school choice but later withdrew his support, has awarded a $5 million grant to the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society of Philadelphia to expand its private K-12 religious school, Penn Live reports.

Democrat lawmakers, who pressured Shapiro to abandon his support for school choice in the 2023 budget, praised the grant, including state Sen. Nikil Saval and Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, both of Philadelphia.  

“Institutions such as Al-Aqsa are more important than ever,” said Kenyatta in a release, which noted a goal of the money is to help the school expand from 300 students to 3,000. “I worked hard to help secure them this funding and am so excited to see all that comes from it.” 

And instead of vocally opposing any money for religious schools, the state’s largest teachers’ union – the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) – “raised no objection to the grant, even though previous moves to fund private education using public resources have drawn the union’s ire,” Matthew Brouillette, head of a state entrepreneurs group, wrote at Penn Live. 

This, despite a quote last year by the union’s president saying, “We shouldn’t even think about sending taxpayer money to private and religious schools when our focus should be on fixing Pennsylvania’s unconstitutional public school funding system.” 

The city’s teachers’ union was also notably silent. 

The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups recently urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to allow taxpayer funds to go to St. Isidore School in Oklahoma, which would be the nation’s first religiously affiliated charter school. A decision in that case is expected next month, but these same civil rights groups have not protested the Islamic school funding. 

As Brouillette notes, the primary criticism of the grant came from people pointing out that the Muslim organization once hosted an antisemitic speaker, not because it gave state money to a religious institution. 

The grant comes as the state negotiates its budget, which is due June 30. Republicans, who control the Senate but face a one-seat deficit in the House, are advocating for two pieces of school choice legislation. 

The first would approve scholarships for low- and middle-income students trapped in failing schools – something Shapiro had supported on the 2022 campaign trail but later abandoned under pressure from House Democrats. The PASS Scholarship legislation has bipartisan support, including from Sen. Anthony Williams, D- Philadelphia, who said this week the state is “in big trouble” without school choice. 

“If people want to send more money to public education because it works for them, I’ll vote for it as I always have,” he said on the House floor. “But I also want to vote for a budget that allows (choice) for parents who know that their child is going to a school which is in my district, which for the last 10 years has had declining proficiency scores and now we are at zero when math scores are presented.” 

The state has more than 211,000 students stuck in 383 low-achieving public schools, the Commonwealth Foundation reports. Of those, 80% are economically disadvantaged and 83% are students of color.  

Additionally, the state’s public schools have made no measurable improvement since 2003 in closing the achievement gaps of more than 25 points for Black and Hispanic students, economically disadvantaged students or English language learners. 

Meanwhile, state Rep. Joe D’Orsie, R-York, has introduced a bill to create education savings accounts, or ESAs, called Student Freedom Accounts. They would be available to all students in the state regardless of income, including homeschool and hybrid school students. 

While Republicans are the only sponsors of that legislation at this point, polling shows widespread support for school choice in the Keystone State. 

A recent Ragnar Research poll found 7 out of 10 Pennsylvanians support school choice, with roughly the same number backing Lifeline Scholarships, which are similar to the PASS legislation. 

Support was higher among Republicans (84%), but even a majority of Democrats (56%) backed school choice, with 64% from that party supporting Lifeline scholarships. 

The Commonwealth Foundation, which is backing a renewed push for Lifeline scholarships, said it supports all efforts to increase school choice in the state. 

“All Pennsylvania students deserve a quality education that best serves their needs – which we can deliver through school choice programs, like Lifeline Scholarships and other proposals from legislators,” spokesperson Giana DePaul told The Lion recently. 

“We support this most recent bill and are supportive of any legislation that expands educational opportunities for students and families in Pennsylvania.”