School choice is, once again, the talk of the town in Harrisburg.

Hundreds of students, parents, educators, lawmakers, and activists crowded the Capitol steps, rallying support for meaningful education reform.

Meanwhile, inside the building, lawmakers advanced one such reform. The Senate Education Committee voted 8-3 to advance the Lifeline Scholarships Program, also known as the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS). This program would provide scholarships to low-income students attending Pennsylvania’s lowest-performing schools, so they can use the money to find a school that better fits their needs.

These events coincided with new data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). The PDE numbers, as usual, paint an unsavory picture of the state of public education in Pennsylvania.

Despite claims to the contrary, Pennsylvania public schools are far from underfunded. Pennsylvania spent $23,061 per student in the 2023-24 school year — a five percent increase from the previous year. Pennsylvania’s per-pupil spending ranks seventh nationally.

School district reserve funds are up, too. School districts statewide collectively hold $7.4 billion in reserve funds, about $4,200 per Pennsylvania student.

While saving for a rainy day is fiscally prudent, many districts’ reserves are excessive. Eugene DePasquale, the former auditor general for Pennsylvania, recommended that districts save no more than 20 percent of their total spending. Yet, more than half of Pennsylvania school districts surpass that recommended limit. In fact, 20 districts have hoarded 50 percent or more of their operating budgets.

The taxpayers’ investment in public education has never been higher. Total revenue from all sources — local, state, and federal — amounted to $38.6 billion in 2023-24 (the most recent data available). In the last decade, state support of public schools has increased by 48.4 percent.

Yet, these vast amounts of public dollars have not translated into improved academic performance. Seven in ten Pennsylvania eighth-graders cannot read or perform math at grade level, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Clearly, fixing our education system entails more than spending. Instead, the solution is to empower parents and students with educational choice.

Demand for educational choice remains high. New polling by Ragnar Research Partners found that seven out of ten Pennsylvanians support PASS/Lifeline Scholarships. And this support transcends political party, racial identity, and location.

Pennsylvanians’ demand for school choice has outpaced supply. Pennsylvania’s tax-credit scholarship programs — the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs — continue to receive more applications than available scholarships. About 164,000 Pennsylvania students applied for the EITC and OSTC scholarships in the 2022-23 school year, but only about half received an award. The rest were either waitlisted or declined.

Research confirms the substantial benefits of programs like EITC, OSTC, and PASS/Lifeline Scholarships. A new study about Ohio’s EdChoice Scholarship program found that recipients were more likely to enroll in and graduate from college than their public school counterparts. Moreover, low-income scholarship recipients were 175 percent more likely to graduate from college than their peers. This study is one of many scholarly pieces demonstrating the overwhelming body of evidence supporting educational choice.

The onus to do the right thing is now on lawmakers, especially Gov. Josh Shapiro. As a candidate, Shapiro endorsed Lifeline Scholarships on the campaign trail. However, as governor, he vetoed Lifeline Scholarships from the 2023-24 budget.

Unfortunately, the governor continues to send mixed messages about PASS/Lifeline Scholarships. In an unofficial missive to his party, Shapiro stated his administration has “no position” on the current bill advanced by the Pennsylvania Senate.

“So for those keep tracking at home, Shapiro has now said he supported, gone on to veto, and now says he has no position on vouchers,” tweeted Stephen Caruso, a reporter for SpotlightPA. “Make it make sense!”

It’s now on Shapiro to lead. The governor has the political capital to rally his party behind the program he once openly advocated for. With the state budget deadline just weeks away, Shapiro must follow through on his promise to provide a high-quality education to all Pennsylvania students, regardless of their zip code or ability to afford an alternative.

Educational choice may have been the talk of the town on Tuesday. But it’s safe to say that this wasn’t a one-time fluke. So long as Pennsylvania kids remain in failing public schools, the demand for educational choice will persist for the foreseeable future.

Rachel Langan is the senior education policy analyst at the Commonwealth Foundation, Pennsylvania’s free-market think tank.