Democrats’ education funding report says Pennsylvania owes $5B more to school districts
11 months, 1 week ago

Democrats’ education funding report says Pennsylvania owes $5B more to school districts

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A commission reviewing how Pennsylvania distributes money to public schools narrowly approved a report Thursday that suggests the state is underfunding districts by more than $5 billion and should begin immediately to close that gap. A key recommendation in the report said the state should immediately begin to close a school funding gap of more than $5 billion, phasing in the increased aid over seven years. “There’s still a whole lot of work to do.” Teacher unions and lawyers for the districts that won last year’s court case cheered the Democrats’ report. House Minority Leader Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, criticized the report as containing a “simply spend more money” solution to fix inadequacies in Pennsylvania’s system of school funding. Of that amount, $5.1 billion is the state’s responsibility and $291 million is the responsibility of low-tax school districts, the report said.

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History of this topic

Pennsylvania lawmakers pass nearly $48B budget almost 2 weeks late
5 months, 1 week ago

Pennsylvania lawmakers pass nearly $48B budget almost 2 weeks late

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania lawmakers ground through a flurry of votes Thursday to approve a budget deal, nearly two weeks into the new fiscal year after being slowed by disagreements during closed-door negotiations over Democrats’ push for more public schools aid. The $47.6 billion plan for the fiscal year that started July 1 represents a 6% increase over last year’s …

Pennsylvania schools would get billions more under Democratic plan passed by the state House
6 months, 1 week ago

Pennsylvania schools would get billions more under Democratic plan passed by the state House

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Democratic- The bill responds to a report issued in January that said Pennsylvania underfunds public school districts by more than $5 billion annually and recommended phasing in increases over several years. “This isn’t politics, this is a constitutional requirement, one that this body has failed for too long.” The measure also would impose a range of …

Pennsylvania Senate approves GOP’s $3B tax-cutting plan, over objections of top Democrats
7 months, 2 weeks ago

Pennsylvania Senate approves GOP’s $3B tax-cutting plan, over objections of top Democrats

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Republican lawmakers on Tuesday advanced legislation for a $3 billion tax cut, their just-unveiled counterproposal to Democratic Gov. They also said it lacks any help for public schools, considering last year’s court decision that found Pennsylvania’s system of funding public schools violates the constitutional rights of students in poorer districts. People want a good quality of life, …

Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers roll out higher ed plan built around grants and tuition discounts
8 months, 1 week ago

Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers roll out higher ed plan built around grants and tuition discounts

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania on Wednesday rolled out a counterproposal to Democratic Gov. Republicans also signaled that key elements of Shapiro’s higher education plan rolled out earlier this year are essentially dead in the Legislature. And we hear constantly now from employers who are really ringing alarm bells.” Enrollments have been falling for years at Pennsylvania’s state-owned …

Gov. Shapiro seeks school-funding boost to help poorer districts, but Republicans remain wary
10 months, 2 weeks ago

Gov. Shapiro seeks school-funding boost to help poorer districts, but Republicans remain wary

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Gov. Josh Shapiro is taking the first step in what is shaping up to be a complicated, yearslong process to respond to a court decision that found that Pennsylvania’s system of public school funding violates the constitutional rights of students in the poorest districts. The 14% increase reflects recommendations produced last month by Shapiro appointees and Democratic …

Pennsylvania governor to deliver budget while seeking money for higher education and public transit
10 months, 2 weeks ago

Pennsylvania governor to deliver budget while seeking money for higher education and public transit

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Gov. Josh Shapiro is set to deliver a second budget proposal to Pennsylvania lawmakers on Tuesday with a firmer grasp on how he wants to pursue several top priorities, his state in a relatively strong fiscal position and lessons learned from last year’s ugly budget fight. He also wants to spend more money to attract major companies …

Private schools, child care legislation pass in Pennsylvania as lawmakers move past budget feud
1 year ago

Private schools, child care legislation pass in Pennsylvania as lawmakers move past budget feud

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Lawmakers moved past a monthslong budget feud in Pennsylvania’s Capitol on Wednesday, advancing legislation to tie up loose ends and send millions more to subsidize private school tuition and child care tax credits for parents. In addition to subsidies for private schools and parents who send kids to child care, lawmakers agreed to raise the monthly fee …

Shapiro says unfinished business includes vouchers, more school funding and higher minimum wage
1 year, 1 month ago

Shapiro says unfinished business includes vouchers, more school funding and higher minimum wage

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Monday that his list of unfinished business for the state Legislature includes passing a private school voucher program, increasing the minimum wage and approving bills to curb gun violence. “I consider this to be unfinished business, along with making sure we raise the minimum wage, along with passing statute of limitations reform, …

Pennsylvania lawmakers OK millions for universities, but feud over private and public school aid
1 year, 1 month ago

Pennsylvania lawmakers OK millions for universities, but feud over private and public school aid

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s Legislature on Wednesday approved hundreds of millions of dollars for universities after a fight that has dragged on five months into the fiscal year, although the politically divided body continued to feud over elements of school funding. Legislation to send just over $600 million to several higher education institutions passed both the House and Senate within …

Pennsylvania schools face spending down reserves or taking out loans as lawmakers fail to act
1 year, 4 months ago

Pennsylvania schools face spending down reserves or taking out loans as lawmakers fail to act

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Some of Pennsylvania’s school districts may have to empty their reserves or take out loans to open for the fall semester because billions of dollars in state aid is held up in a month-old political stalemate. The district has been working with a deficit for 14 years, Iskric said, and there’s no funding to bridge the gap …

Pennsylvania’s schools say victory in court is final and Legislature needs to increase funding
1 year, 4 months ago

Pennsylvania’s schools say victory in court is final and Legislature needs to increase funding

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Lawmakers should take action to address a now-final court ruling that Pennsylvania’s system of funding public schools violates the constitutional rights of students in poorer school districts, lawyers for the districts and groups that sued said Monday. The plaintiffs — including six school districts, the NAACP and the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools — want …

Pennsylvania budget still in turmoil over school vouchers and equity funding case
1 year, 5 months ago

Pennsylvania budget still in turmoil over school vouchers and equity funding case

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A court’s ruling earlier this year that the way Pennsylvania funds public schools is unconstitutional helped make education spending one of the thorniest issues in state budget negotiations. Along with a partisan divide over spending taxpayer money to help students attend private and religious schools, education funding has left the state’s 2023-24 spending plan incomplete. “Schools were …

Impasse on funding for Pennsylvania universities could mean higher tuition
1 year, 5 months ago

Impasse on funding for Pennsylvania universities could mean higher tuition

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A partisan dispute about funding for three of Pennsylvania’s state-related universities may mean higher tuition for in-state students as a budget impasse continues further into the summer. Senators aren’t due back until September, and Pittman said the chamber “sees little value in returning to session” to give final approval to the plan without the legislation to direct …

Pennsylvania governor backs off $100M private schools program, eases House budget vote
1 year, 5 months ago

Pennsylvania governor backs off $100M private schools program, eases House budget vote

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro on Wednesday backed off his insistence on money for a new private-school funding program, giving the Democratic-controlled House the opening to approve a new state spending plan after a days-long stalemate in Pennsylvania’s politically divided Legislature. The holdup was primarily over education spending — including Shapiro’s support for a new $100 million program …

Pennsylvania to begin new fiscal year without budget plan in place
1 year, 5 months ago

Pennsylvania to begin new fiscal year without budget plan in place

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Republicans who control Pennsylvania’s Senate passed spending legislation hours ahead of Saturday’s start of a new fiscal year, but they lacked agreement with the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives to keep state government’s full spending authority intact. The main budget bill in the Senate GOP’s $45 billion spending plan passed 29-21, a couple hours after it emerged Friday. …

Pennsylvania budget agreement is elusive as fiscal-year deadline nears
1 year, 5 months ago

Pennsylvania budget agreement is elusive as fiscal-year deadline nears

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Gov. Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania’s politically divided Legislature appeared on track Thursday to start the state’s fiscal year without a spending plan in place, with closed-door talks yielding optimism from Republicans, but discontent from Democrats. Many Democratic lawmakers have muted their criticism of an emerging budget agreement between Republicans and Shapiro, but they say it doesn’t carry …

What to Watch: Pennsylvania budget talks near deadline, and get contentious
1 year, 5 months ago

What to Watch: Pennsylvania budget talks near deadline, and get contentious

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Democratic Gov. But top Democratic lawmakers have long opposed what they call “private school vouchers” — including this program — and that has sowed doubts about whether Shapiro can secure a deal in the coming days. The massive reserves are easing spending decisions, while the court decision has emboldened Democratic lawmakers to demand far more money for …

Pennsylvania House lawmakers pass bill to recruit more educators by offering $10K stipends
1 year, 6 months ago

Pennsylvania House lawmakers pass bill to recruit more educators by offering $10K stipends

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Faced with a rising number of Pennsylvania teachers leaving the profession, state House lawmakers on Thursday passed a bill to recruit more educators by giving student teachers a stipend while they’re in the classroom. The program would award student teachers in Pennsylvania a minimum grant of $10,000. “The prospect of giving up that income, while incurring additional …

Pennsylvania school allies criticize Shapiro’s budget plan
1 year, 9 months ago

Pennsylvania school allies criticize Shapiro’s budget plan

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Lawyers for the districts that won a landmark school funding court case in Pennsylvania say that Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget proposal falls short of the financial commitments that are needed to help the state’s poorest school districts. “The moment calls for more.” A coalition of groups called Level Up said Shapiro should have set aside money just …

Shapiro’s 1st Pennsylvania budget stresses schools, prudence
1 year, 9 months ago

Shapiro’s 1st Pennsylvania budget stresses schools, prudence

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Gov. Shapiro’s budget proposal comes as Pennsylvania keeps taking in robust tax collections, leaving it with billions in reserve, even as the administration faces demands for more money for schools, highways and social services. But, Shapiro said, he is also making “investments to build an economy that works for everyone, to create safe and healthy communities, to …

With court win, Pennsylvania schools want plan, down payment
1 year, 9 months ago

With court win, Pennsylvania schools want plan, down payment

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — When Pennsylvania Gov. “We think that this is an appropriate investment to start to address the scale of the problem we’re facing,” said Maura McInerney, legal director at Pennsylvania’s Education Law Center, which helped represent the school districts along with Public Interest Law Center and the O’Melveny & Myers law firm. A judge ruled in February that …

Poorer districts win challenge to Pa. public school funding
1 year, 10 months ago

Poorer districts win challenge to Pa. public school funding

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania judge ruled Tuesday that the state’s system of funding public schools falls woefully short and violates students’ constitutional rights, siding with poorer districts in a lawsuit launched nearly a decade ago in pursuit of billions of dollars in additional annual aid. Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer found that the state hasn’t fulfilled its constitutional …

Senate signs off on Pennsylvania’s delayed main budget bill
2 years, 5 months ago

Senate signs off on Pennsylvania’s delayed main budget bill

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Lawmakers overwhelmingly passed the main Pennsylvania state budget bill Friday, more than a week after it was due — a plan fattened by federal stimulus cash and unusually robust state tax collections. Big winners were public schools, environmental programs and long-term care facilities, but the budget also will leave some $5 billion in the state’s rainy day …

With accounts flush, budget talks come down to schools aid
2 years, 5 months ago

With accounts flush, budget talks come down to schools aid

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — With a week to go until the state’s budget deadline, Gov. Tom Wolf and leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature are working through their remaining differences as they try to produce an agreement on a roughly $42 billion budget plan that they say will marshal substantial new aid for Pennsylvania’s public schools and environmental cleanups while cutting corporate …

4-month trial in lawsuit over public school funding wraps
2 years, 9 months ago

4-month trial in lawsuit over public school funding wraps

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A marathon trial over how Pennsylvania funds public education reached an end Thursday but it will be months before a judge rules in the case brought by a group of poorer school districts against Republican state legislative leaders. The plaintiffs argue the current system denies students the “thorough and efficient system of public education” mandated by the …

Poorer cities, growing suburbs get most out of schools plan
2 years, 10 months ago

Poorer cities, growing suburbs get most out of schools plan

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Gov. Meanwhile, 20 districts — primarily cities with among the state’s lowest average household incomes — would get $800 million of the $1.55 billion proposed by Wolf, or more than half. Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Centre, sought to tamp down expectations for the money, and said school districts should understand not to budget based on …

School districts’ lawsuit over state funding heads to trial
3 years, 1 month ago

School districts’ lawsuit over state funding heads to trial

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A lawsuit that could result in drastic changes to how Pennsylvania funds public education goes to trial Friday in a Harrisburg courtroom, seven years after a handful of the state’s districts first went to court to challenge a system they consider unfair. Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Centre, one of the defendants, said in a statement …

Latest school funding challenge in NH headed to trial
3 years, 9 months ago

Latest school funding challenge in NH headed to trial

Associated Press  

CONCORD, N.H. — The New Hampshire Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an attempt by the state to dismiss the latest challenge in a decades-long debate over how to fund public schools, setting the case up for a trial to give school districts a chance to show how they need more financial resources. In response, the Legislature began sending each school …

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