Nearly six months into the 2023-24 fiscal year, lawmakers on Wednesday passed education funding bills. The passage House of Representatives Bill No. 301 AND Senate Bill No. 843 allocates millions of state dollars to various education-related initiatives.
The previously suspended bill, HB 301, allocates over $300 million for libraries and colleges, 100 million dollars for mental health services in schools and $175 million for school facility renovations.
Of the $175 million earmarked for school facility repairs, such as mold and asbestos remediation, $100 million comes from funds previously earmarked for Level Up Programwhich gives priority to the 100 poorest school districts in the state.
State Rep. Peter Schweyer (D-Lehigh) said the change was proposed as a compromise by lawmakers in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives to the Republican-controlled Senate, which does not support the measure.
“Given what we saw in the Senate, they were not going to accept it. [Level Up] “That’s why we compromised and put more money into facilities,” Schweyer told the Capital-Star.
The Act also provides for the allocation of $150 million for Education Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) AND Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) Programswhich provide tax breaks to businesses that donate money to scholarships and other educational funds throughout the Commonwealth.
The programs have drawn criticism from Democrats and public school advocates who say they are discriminatory and favor private schools. House Republicans, however, celebrated the funding in a statement Wednesday evening.
“Thanks to the hard work of Pennsylvania Republicans, we can ensure the continuation of programs that prevent children from falling behind in Pennsylvania’s failing education system,” said Joshua Kail (R-Beaver).
Republican leaders said delays in passing the school code and fiscal code, which are typically passed at the same time as the main part of the budget, the general spending bill, have deprived colleges, libraries and 911 centers of funding. Julyas lawmakers stalled over a proposed education voucher program.
“I think what we’ve seen is a consistent failure of leadership by House Democrats to actually get the budget done on time,” said Minority Leader Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster). “You saw the spectacle that happened on the floor about what they wanted to spend their time on, which is really unfortunate,” Cutler said, referring to the debate over a resolution honoring singer Taylor Swift. “It was a lot of wasted time and opportunity.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro signs $45.5 billion budget, but lawmakers still have more work to do
More than a month after the novel fiscal year began on July 1, Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an unfinished $45.5 billion budget bill into law while negotiations continued.
The bills will now go to Shapiro’s desk for final approval.
