{"id":32343,"date":"2025-11-12T21:09:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T21:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/32343\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T21:09:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T21:09:07","slug":"new-pennsylvania-budget-boosts-education-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/32343\/","title":{"rendered":"New Pennsylvania budget boosts education funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia\u2019s free newsletter<\/a> to keep up with news on the city\u2019s public school system.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania\u2019s new $50.1 billion state budget \u2014 four months overdue \u2014 includes a $193 million increase for Philadelphia schools, and several accountability reforms for cyber charter schools and districts\u2019 literacy programs.<\/p>\n

The budget and accompanying school code bills reduce the amount that school districts pay cyber charters, while also adding stricter reporting requirements for those schools regarding student absenteeism and academic performance. School districts statewide will also have to adopt \u201cevidence-based\u201d reading curriculum<\/a> by the 2027-28 school year and do more to support struggling readers.<\/p>\n

The budget package also includes $25 million for child care teacher recruitment and retention bonuses; a $7.5 million increase for Grow PA, which gives scholarships to aspiring educators; $30 million for student-teacher stipends<\/a>; a non-punitive push for students to complete their college financial aid forms prior to graduation; and a $50 cap on teacher certification fees.<\/p>\n

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the budget package Wednesday afternoon, flanked by Rep. Jordan Harris and House Speaker Joanna McClinton, both Democrats who represent Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis budget builds on the progress we\u2019ve made to be able to deliver better schools and more opportunity for our kids,\u201d Shapiro said.<\/p>\n

In an increasingly polarized and combative political environment, Pennsylvania officials cast their budget agreement Wednesday as a moment of unity for a divided legislature. It also gives badly needed financial relief to the state\u2019s school districts, which resorted to various unappealing tactics like short-term borrowing to keep things running while they waited for state education funding \u2014 a situation that one observer likened to setting money on fire<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are voting on a budget today that continues to make historic investments in education,\u201d said Harris, the House appropriations committee chair, before the vote in Harrisburg Wednesday. \u201cIt\u2019s taken us a long time to get here, but the truth of the matter is we\u2019re here and we\u2019re here together.\u201d <\/p>\n

We’re here to help.<\/p>\n

Every day, Chalkbeat Philadelphia reporters are answering your questions, following the money, and digging into what’s happening in the city’s public schools. Keep up with our free newsletter, delivered every Wednesday and Friday morning.<\/p>\n

Education spending had been a central sticking point in budget negotiations. But in the shadow of a federal government shutdown<\/a> and decisive election wins by Democrats<\/a> this month in many races, Pennsylvania lawmakers said this budget will send a clear political message: We\u2019re capable of compromising.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t agree with everything in this budget \u2014 that\u2019s part of a divided government,\u201d said Republican Rep. Jesse Topper on the House floor Wednesday. But he said he thinks the \u201crobust\u201d increases in education spending with the added requirements that districts adopt \u201cevidence-based\u201d literacy programs \u201cwill make a difference\u201d for Pennsylvania students.<\/p>\n

While the budget deal does not create a new private school voucher program<\/a> that Republicans sought, Topper praised the $50 million increase in funding the budget allocates for the state\u2019s existing school choice program that relies on tax credits. <\/p>\n

In the absence of a state budget, the Philadelphia district borrowed $585.5 million<\/a> to allow it to continue to function and will need to pay that money back, in addition to finding funding for the interest payments. A bill<\/a> pending in the legislature would require the state to pay districts back for \u201cinterest payments and fees\u201d stemming from lawmakers\u2019 inability to pass a budget on time.<\/p>\n

However, the Teach Plus advocacy group expressed concern that districts will not ultimately get reimbursed for interest they paid on any such borrowing. \u201cThat money will never reach classrooms and students, and local taxpayers will shoulder this unnecessary expense,\u201d Teach Plus said in a Wednesday statement.<\/p>\n

Philly district officials are also undergoing a complex facilities planning process<\/a> that will result in school closures and require millions for renovations and building maintenance. The new budget includes $125 million for school facilities funding.<\/p>\n

Budget addresses Pennsylvania\u2019s school funding \u2018adequacy gap\u2019<\/p>\n

This marks the second state budget since a state court ruled in 2023 that Pennsylvania\u2019s previous school funding formula was unconstitutional<\/a> because it left poor districts underfunded. <\/p>\n

Following that ruling, a bipartisan commission crafted a new funding formula to consider districts\u2019 tax bases and students\u2019 needs to distribute funds. The new budget largely follows that formula and boosts funding for the state\u2019s poorest districts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis budget responds to the mandates of our constitutional court to address the issues of inadequacy and equity,\u201d said Sen. Vincent Hughes, a Democrat who represents Philadelphia, on the Senate floor Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Still, advocates say the additional funding does not fully address Pennsylvania schools\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cLawmakers\u2019 five-month delay in passing this year\u2019s budget left schools, educators, and families in unnecessary limbo and resulted in avoidable harm,\u201d said Deborah Gordon Klehr, executive director of the Education Law Center-PA, in a statement. \u201cThis is another step forward \u2013 one that must be followed by continued commitment and sustained investment until every student, in every community, has the resources they need to learn and thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cyber charter reforms will save Philadelphia district millions<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania school districts previously have paid cyber charter schools the same amount per student as they provided to brick-and-mortar charters. But the new budget changes that, lowering the amount of money districts owe charters per student. Those changes are estimated to save the Philadelphia school district nearly $50 million this school year, according to an analysis from the House Appropriations Committee. <\/p>\n

This year\u2019s reforms replace last year\u2019s $100 million payment to reimburse school districts<\/a> for the cost of tuition paid to cyber charter schools.<\/p>\n

Cyber charter schools will also be required to create policies that monitor whether students are present during synchronous parts of instruction. To be marked present, students \u201cmust be visible to the teacher on camera,\u201d the budget bill states. For asynchronous instruction, when teachers are not live on camera, cyber charters will be required to monitor how students are progressing on certain \u201cbenchmarks\u201d and report that information to the state.<\/p>\n

In addition, cyber charters will have to create wellness check policies to \u201censure the well-being\u201d of enrolled students. These changes come after the death of a student enrolled in a cyber charter<\/a> following her alleged torture and starvation by her guardians.<\/p>\n

The budget legislation also prohibits students who are habitually truant from transferring during the school year to a cyber charter school, unless a judge determines that the transfer is in the child\u2019s best interest.<\/p>\n

Cyber charter operators said in a joint statement Wednesday the reforms would amount to a significant budget cut and could force up to seven cyber charter schools to close within two years. And they estimate the budget deal would lead to layoffs of 2,000 cyber charter teachers and staff. <\/p>\n

Jon Marsh, CEO of Esperanza Cyber Charter School based in North Philly, said in a Wednesday statement that the budget represented \u201can attack on some of the most chronically disenfranchised and disadvantaged students in our Commonwealth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carly Sitrin is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Philadelphia. Contact Carly at csitrin@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Redelmeier is a reporter at Chalkbeat Philadelphia. She writes about public schools, early childhood education, and issues that affect students, families, and educators across Philadelphia. Contact Rebecca at rredelmeier@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia\u2019s free newsletter to keep up with news on the city\u2019s public school system.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[16473,37,539,28,19865,69,71,70,85],"class_list":["post-32343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-capitol","tag-harrisburg","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-secretary-of-state-al-schmidt","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32343","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=32343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}