Pennsylvania’s legislature, and Governor Josh Shapiro, recently approved a $47.6 billion budget, marking a significant increase in public education. The budget includes $1.1 billion in new K-12 education spending, addressing a Commonwealth Court ruling that declared the state’s school funding method unconstitutional due to disparities between wealthy and poor districts.
The budget allocates:
- $225 million increase in basic education funding
- $100 million more for special education
- $100 million for mental health and physical safety initiatives
- $493.8 million “adequacy supplement”
- $32 million “tax equity supplement”
A key part of the budget is a new funding formula that aims to distribute more than $526 million in adequacy and equity grants to Pennsylvania’s school districts based on factors like student poverty rates. This effort seeks to reduce the equity gap caused by reliance on property taxes, which disadvantages districts with lower property values.
The budget also introduces a new formula to reimburse traditional public schools for funds that follow students to cyber charter schools, with $100 million allocated for this purpose. It also revises the formula for special needs students, expected to save public schools $34.5 million. Furthermore, charter schools must now disclose in advertisements that they are funded by taxpayer dollars and meet new requirements for board members and budget transparency.
Additionally, the bill allocates $120 million for school security and mental health services, including funding for security guards in every district, with $20 million designated for safety grants for non-public schools and charter entities.
Other provisions of the new budget include grants up to $3 million for schools to provide menstrual hygiene products and funding for grants to lock students’ cell phones during school hours, with requirements for schools to implement cell phone use policies.
