Democratic congressional candidate Steve Santarsiero is campaigning in Pennsylvania on a strong education funding platform despite voting against a debt relief program for high-performing students and ducking a vote to increase funding for K-12 public education.
Santasiero, a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, is seeking a seat in the state's 8th district, a race crucial to the Democratic Party’s effort to gain control of the House. He has attempted to make support for public education funding and student debt relief major pillars of his campaign, circulating a petition this week on the issues. (The petition does not work. When this reporter signed on to support real student debt reform, an "Error 404" occurred indicating that the Web page could not be found.)
Santarsiero’s embrace of the student debt issue is at odds with his voting behavior in the state legislature.
He voted against funding Pennsylvania's Ready to Succeed Scholarship Program, a $5 million state program aimed at making sure high-performing students don't accumulate crippling debt while in school.
The budget that Santarsiero voted against established the Ready to Succeed Program, which has helped thousands of Pennsylvania students from middle-class families and has become a permanent fixture in the state.
The Santarsiero campaign did not respond to an email with questions about his vote against the scholarship program and how it aligns with his claim that he is on a "mission" to help students stay out of debt.
Santarsiero, a former teacher, has also embraced the issue of increasing funding for public education. However, he avoided critical votes in the legislature that shaped the state's education budget.
Earlier this year, Santarsiero was granted "legislative leave" on the House floor that allowed him to avoid voting on an education funding bill that was opposed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who endorsed Santarsiero in his primary fight. The bipartisan bill passed easily.
Santarsiero was booed by his House colleagues after his leave was granted. He was also hammered last month for missing all the votes held on the final day of the legislative session. Santarsiero was in Washington, D.C. on campaign business.
With Santarsiero absent, the legislature ended highly contentious budget negotiations with Wolf that increased funding for K-12 public education by $200 million and also increased funding for early childhood education and special education.
Santarsiero has two children currently in high school, though neither are enrolled in Pennsylvania public schools. They attend school in New Jersey at the Pennington School, a private institution where tuition is $36,300.
Fact checkers have called out Santarsiero for exaggerating his accomplishments in the legislature.
He is running against Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, who is the brother of the district’s current Republican congressman, Mike Fitzpatrick.