State lawmakers approved the 2026-2027 state budget over the weekend and funding for public education was, once again, the top bipartisan priority.
This didn’t happen by accident. When lawmakers sat down to negotiate this year’s budget, one message consistently came through across the Commonwealth: Pennsylvanians value their public schools and want them to be strong for every student, no matter their zip code.
This budget is another reminder about the power of advocacy. When parents, educators, students, school board directors, and community leaders come together around a single goal, their collective voice has the power to shape policy. Every action taken this year throughout the budget process, big or small, helped reinforce the importance of investing in PA’s public schools. Whether you sent an email, attended Advocacy Day or met with your legislators in their local offices, shared information on social media, or simply had a conversation with your neighbors about your deep passion for your local public schools, your advocacy helped keep public education at the forefront of this year’s budget negotiations, and for that, we say “thank you.”
Pennsylvania took another step toward constitutional school funding and, with this investment and has closed one third of the adequacy gap over three years, leaving a remaining gap of $3.3 billion.
$564 million for adequacy and tax equity funding to help bring Pennsylvania one step closer to constitutional compliance, including the following:
- $526.4 million in new adequacy funding for districts with an adequacy gap;
- $6.4 million in additional supplements to provide a $50,000 minimum allocation for districts without an adequacy gap;
- $32.2 million in tax equity funding.
$50 million in Basic Education Funding for all 500 school districts that will be distributed through the Basic Education Funding formula.
$50 million in special education funding for all 500 school districts that will be distributed through the special education formula.
The very good news from the School Code is that bipartisan reforms close loopholes bad actors in the cyber charter industry had exploited over the past year. We applaud the lawmakers who worked very hard on this legislation, which we hope will finally ensure that cyber charter students are safe, learning, and actually attending school.
Truancy
The School Code continues to require students who are habitually truant to get the approval from a magisterial judge before transferring to a cyber charter school. The code establishes a process families of habitually truant students can use to get their case before a judge and clarifies the criteria a judge may use to determine if this transfer is in the “best educational interest of the student.”
Cyber charters that enroll habitually truant students in violation of the law will not receive payments from school districts for these students.
Wellness checks
The legislation establishes an escalation path cybers must follow for students who miss weekly wellness checks. The law makes clear that someone from the cyber charter must actually visibly see and communicate with students in real time to ensure their health and safety.
Residency
These bipartisan reforms are wonky and detailed. Read p. 61 of the School Code if you’d like to learn more. These should finally ensure that taxpayers are no longer forced to pay tuition bills for cyber charter students who live outside of their district and even the state.
Unfortunately, there are no additional cyber charter savings in this year’s budget. Our understanding is that lawmakers want to see the impact of two years of tuition adjustments before enacting further savings.
Rest assured, we will continue to expose the enormous amount of excess funding paid to cyber charters that they waste, and we will continue to advocate for tuition rates that match the cost of an online education. This fight is not over.
For the first time in a decade, state lawmakers did not increase funding for Pennsylvania’s private school voucher programs. The Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs remain level-funded.
Until there is additional transparency that shows how the current $575 million in tax money allocated for private school vouchers is spent and who benefits from these programs, not one additional dollar should be allocated to any voucher program, including Trump’s federal private school voucher program.
None of this work happens without the support of people who believe in strong public schools. If you value this work and the impact that advocacy can have on public education, please consider making a donation. Your support allows us to keep organizing advocates, share research, and ensure that public education remains a top priority in Harrisburg.
PS: See how your state lawmakers voted on the budget and School Code bills.