{"id":302064,"date":"2026-10-08T03:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T03:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/302064\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T03:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T03:06:08","slug":"pennsylvania-governor-candidates-debate-data-centers-and-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/302064\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania governor candidates debate data centers and education"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tom<\/a><\/p>\n

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity debated key issues, including data center development and education, during a gubernatorial debate at the state Capitol in Harrisburg. <\/p>\n

Video above: Top news stories, weather forecast.<\/p>\n

Candidates clash over data center development<\/p>\n

The development of large data centers has been a major political topic this year, with Shapiro and Garrity expressing differing views on the issue. Shapiro defended his decision not to implement a moratorium, instead using an executive order to protect communities. <\/p>\n

“If a local community does not want that data center to be built in its community, it will not be built. That policy won’t even be heard. That proposal won’t even be heard by the Commonwealth when it comes to permitting,” Shapiro said. <\/p>\n

Garrity, who earlier this year called for a pause on hyperscale data center development, did not commit to a specific timeline but emphasized collaboration with stakeholders. <\/p>\n

“Real leaders don’t need that long of a pause. You get all the stakeholders around the table and you find out what you need to protect ratepayers and protect communities. So as long as it takes,” Garrity said. <\/p>\n

Education funding and achievement take center stage<\/p>\n

Education funding and student achievement were also key topics during the debate. Garrity stressed the importance of ensuring students meet academic benchmarks. <\/p>\n

“By the third grade, your child needs to be able to read, and if they can’t, there are a lot of steps you can take to make sure that they’re not falling behind. They need to stay at that grade level. By the time they get to the eighth grade, they need to read and do math at grade level,” Garrity said. <\/p>\n

Shapiro highlighted public school investments during his term and expressed support for both public education and private school vouchers. <\/p>\n

“It is not an either-or… either we invest in public education or we make those investments in educational opportunities. It’s both\/and. I want to see investments in public schools like we have done, and I’m open to seeing the Democrats and Republicans come together to be able to provide that opportunity,” Shapiro said. <\/p>\n

Budget challenges ahead<\/p>\n

Shapiro also addressed his veto of lifeline scholarships during his first year in office, explaining that it was due to lawmakers not having a deal in place that would have upheld the state budget. <\/p>\n

The candidates are expected to share their thoughts on budgeting challenges in what could be a tighter year for Pennsylvania\u2019s savings.<\/p>\n

This content is imported from infogram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity debated key issues, including data center development and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[124297,15120,2479,524,74245,42310,2116,67182,227,4482,48231,121681,124298,37,124293,33,124299,124296,28,30,29,124295,38665,124300,97175,124294,3415,8060,124301,1978,3477,75148,48640,913,78],"class_list":["post-302064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-budgeting-challenges","tag-candidate","tag-commonwealth","tag-community","tag-community-protection","tag-data-center-development","tag-data-centers","tag-datum-center","tag-education","tag-education-funding","tag-garrity","tag-governor-debate","tag-gubernatorial-debate","tag-harrisburg","tag-hyperscale-data-centers","tag-josh-shapiro","tag-key-issue","tag-lifeline-scholarships","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-private-school-vouchers","tag-public-education","tag-public-school-investment","tag-ratepayers","tag-school-vouchers","tag-shapiro","tag-stacy-garrity","tag-stakeholder","tag-state-budget","tag-state-capitol","tag-student-achievement","tag-third-grade-reading","tag-weather-forecast","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}