In his budget address, Governor Shapiro acknowledged that the recent Commonwealth Court ruling recognized that education is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Pennsylvania Constitution to all children and that students in low-wealth districts are currently denied that right because their districts cannot raise sufficient local resources. The court also recognized that our schools require additional state funding to meet our constitution’s mandate—a comprehensive, effective, and contemporary public education system that gives every child a meaningful opportunity to succeed academically, socially, and civically.
Governor Shapiro has shown that he is willing to work to find a comprehensive solution to the lawsuit decision, and that the proposed increases in basic and special education funding in this budget are inadequate to meet the moment.These increases keep pace with inflation–allowing districts to barely tread water when they need substantial additional state investments to meet their students’ needs.
Lawmakers in the PA House and Senate must expand on the Governor’s proposal to provide an even larger down payment toward the public K-12 and public higher education funding that is necessary for our young people and the commonwealth to thrive.
Below please find highlights and news coverage of the budget.
Click HERE for a slide deck with detailed information about the budget.
Click HERE for our budget analysis.
Click HERE for a recording of our briefing about the education funding proposal
Click HERE for spreadsheets that show how much funding each school district would receive with this funding proposal.
Lawmakers in the PA House and Senate must expand on the Governor’s proposal to provide an even larger down payment toward the public K-12 and public higher education funding that is necessary for our young people and the commonwealth to thrive.
Read some news coverage of Governor Shapiro’s budget proposal for education below.
A 2% increase for higher ed
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) —$11.0 million increase
Community colleges-$5.1 million
Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology $389,000.
For the four state-related universities — Lincoln University, Temple University, the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State University–federal dollars are treated as part of the base funding, so the overall increase for these schools is 2 percent.
No new Level Up funding
New funding for Level Up, a supplement that accelerates funding state’s 100 poorest school districts, was not included in the governor’s 2023–24 proposed budget.
Level Up has earned strong bipartisan support during the past two legislative sessions. It is the only tool available that helps to close the funding gaps that hurt our most vulnerable students and are at the heart of Pennsylvania’s unconstitutional school funding system.
The 100 Level Up districts educate a majority of the state’s Black and Latino student, who are left behind by this decision.
District that received Level Up supplements in previous budget years have this funding added to their base.
