Republicans pushed back on Wolf’s plan as too bloated and excessive, and have for the last few weeks negotiated with the governor on a compromise plan.
Wolf, however, continued to push for a massive new state commitment of $1.3 billion annually for public schools, on top of the $6.8 billion already dedicated, to help fix long-term disparities in how the state distributes aid to the poorest districts.
The final budget plan increases basic education funding by $300 million. Of that, $200 million will be sent through the fair funding formula — which determines a district’s share of state dollars based on factors like enrollment, students learning English or experiencing poverty, and median household income — while another $100 million will be shared by the 100 poorest districts in the state.
Among the districts that will benefit from the “Level Up” supplement are Pottstown School District in Montgomery County, McKeesport in Allegheny County, and Lancaster, Reading, and York cities in central Pennsylvania.
Wolf and Democrats wanted to send all state basic education funding, not just new appropriations, through the formula to close the gap between rich and poor school districts. The governor said in a statement he was “disappointed” not to reach that goal and called Level Up a “down payment in this fight.”
“I’m thrilled to death that the 100 most underfunded school districts in the commonwealth are going to get the surge of funds that they need to educate their students,” Rep. Maureen E. Madden (D., Monroe) said on the House floor. “But maybe my three school districts are the 101st school and the 102nd school and the 103rd school. What does our being frugal mean to those school districts, to those taxpayers, to those homeowners?”
The budget also increases special education funding by $50 million and pre-K programs by $30 million, while appropriating $40 million to expand a tax-credit program that sends hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to private and parochial schools annually.
While lamenting the lack of federal relief spending, House and Senate Democrats touted a new $30 million investment in community violence prevention block grants.
“We know that no matter where you live across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, that especially for the last 12 months, violence by guns has increased significantly,” Minority Leader Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) told reporters, citing her own city’s 264 homicides this year. “We as a legislative body are interrupting this cycle.”
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