New Pennsylvania budget pushes out hundreds of millions more for public school funding with no tax hikes

Gov. Josh Shapiro portrays the state’s new budget as another example of Republicans and Democrats teaming up to “get stuff done.”

“There is a lot in this budget that we can all be proud of,” Shapiro said shortly before signing the budget and related bills Sunday evening.

There’s also a lot of stuff the governor wanted still undone.

Shapiro and state legislators from both parties celebrated passage of a $50.8 million spending plan only 12 days late, compared to the five-month budget standoff last year.

Some celebrated a budget far smaller than what Shapiro sought. Most celebrated more education funding, no new taxes, restrictions on data centers or leaving the state Rainy Day Fund untouched.

“On the floor yesterday, I thought one of the most realistic comments that was made was you don't always get what you want, but you very often get what you need, or at least somewhat of what you need,” state Sen. Rosemary Brown, R-Monroe, said Monday.

The unfulfilled desires

Democrats could not celebrate raising the minimum wage or legalization and taxation of recreational marijuana, both goals long proposed by their party’s governors and annually unfulfilled. Neither side could celebrate regulation and taxation of skill games found in local bars and other venues.

That’s because Shapiro, a Democrat, proposed all three in his February budget address, but none made the final budget. He and legislative leaders are planning to negotiate on skill games over the summer because of a recent state Supreme Court ruling.

Shapiro also noted the lack of increased mass transit funding, which he had proposed.

The state House voted 167-35 and the Senate 44-6 to pass the $50.8 billion spending plan, only 1.4% more than this year and far less than Shapiro asked in his February budget address.

“That shows we found consensus,” Shapiro said.

The 'stuff done' list

The governor’s news release listing the budget’s “stuff done” included:

• $565 million more to address a state Commonwealth Court order demanding more money for inadequately funded school districts plus another $58 million in basic education funding and $55 million more for special education.
• Requiring schools to provide students 30 minutes of daily recess.
• $11.6 million more in funding for Penn State and state-related universities outside the state university system.
• $5.9 million toward maximum grant awards for college students.
• $10 million more for career and technical education.
• $5 million more for childcare staff retention and recruitment.
• $10 million more for student teachers as they’re training.
• $1 million more for monitoring the performance of area agencies on aging.
• $10 million in dedicated funding for the 988 suicide hotline.
• $5 million for walk-in mental health treatment.
• $16.2 million to train four more classes of state troopers.
• $658,000 to boost staffing for ChildLine, the state’s child abuse reporting hotline.
• $20 million for the state’s hazardous waste cleanup fund.
• $19 million to plug abandoned oil and gas wells.
• Covering the $78.1 million debt of the State System of Higher Education.
• $12 million more for rape crisis centers.
• $10 million to help farmers whose crops were devastated by late-season frost.
• A cost-of-living increase in pensions for retired police officers, firefighters, teachers and state workers.

Money for a rainy day untouched

Brown said the Republican-controlled Senate did well to reduce Shapiro’s $53.3 billion proposed spending plan without using any of the more than $7.7 billion Rainy Day Fund.

Shapiro had wanted to use almost $4.6 billion in the fund to balance the budget, a move the state Independent Fiscal Office warned against because of the deficit that would produce next year.

“Just being very smart and not getting us into any sort of you know stronger deficit and being able to pay the bills down the road,” Brown said.

Brown praised the budget’s plan to spend $775 million rapidly on local road and bridge projects.

“I think you're going to see some roadwork happening beyond what we're doing,” she said.

Big bucks for schools

Rep. Kyle Mullins, D-Lackawanna, touted the additional $565 million for inadequately funded schools. A 2023 state Commonwealth Court ruling required the state to spend more money on these school districts.

Mullins noted the state again set aside $5 million for neuromuscular disease research, an appropriation he first successfully fought for last year.

The spending plan also adopts restrictions he proposed requiring data center operators to annually report energy and water usage, he said.

“It is the first law of what I hope will be many if the Senate chooses to pass the litany of bills that we've sent them to reign in data centers,” he said.

Walsh: 'I just don't feel it was responsible'

The only lawmakers in northeast and northcentral Pennsylvania to vote against the spending plan were all Republicans: Rep. Stephanie Borowicz, of Clinton County; Rep. Joe Hamm, of Lycoming County; Rep. David Rowe, of Union County; Rep. Joanne Stehr, of Schuylkill County; Rep. Robert Leadbeter, of Columbia County; and Rep. Jamie Walsh, of Luzerne County.

Walsh said he favors the new road and bridge spending but voted no because the budget pushes $1.3 billion in payments to managed care organizations into the next fiscal year. That will add to the next budget’s deficit.

“And I just feel it's deceptive ... I just don't feel it was responsible to do that,” Walsh said.

Beyond that, he decried the budget’s spending.

A year ago, “Republicans were flipping out, not wanting to go over $47 billion, and here we are approving this $50.8 billion (budget),” he said. “Since 2010, our budget has doubled. It’s just out of control. It's not sustainable.”

Brown downplayed pushing the $1.3 billion into the next fiscal year.

“In the meantime, we can give ourselves some time as well to see where Pennsylvania's revenue numbers come in, what other types of you know revenue sources might come in,” she said.