Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – July 11, 2024 – The Pennsylvania Senate and House of Representatives today passed a $47.59 billion budget that includes significant investments in K-12 education, higher education, public safety, health and social services, and economic development.
Senator Jay Costa, the Senate Democratic leader, and Senator Vincent Hughes, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, had the following to say about Pennsylvania’s modern budget:
“I am pleased to report that today we passed the budget bill, school code, tax code and fiscal code. Our discussions over the past few weeks have been very productive, and the Senate Democratic Caucus has proudly fought for a number of our priorities.” said Senator Costa. “This budget is a significant investment in the issues that Pennsylvanians care about and value. We have invested more than $1 billion in funding for pre-K through 12th grade education and $900 million more to address our educational adequacy and K-12 funding needs. In the area of economic development, there is more than $45 million in new programs that support new jobs and businesses, including funding for the PA SITES program. We also received $40 million more for affordable housing through the PHARE housing program over four years. I am personally very proud to have doubled our investment in the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to a total of $10 million to protect spaces in our communities that serve vulnerable populations. There is much more to celebrate and much more work to do to deliver something for every Pennsylvanian. I am so grateful to my colleagues and staff for getting this budget across the finish line.”
“This budget makes a historic down payment on our responsibility to repair Pennsylvania’s education funding system by increasing funding for pre-K through grade 12 by more than $1 billion.” said Senator Hughes. “I, along with many advocates, educators, and students, have fought to fix Pennsylvania’s unconstitutional education system for 10 years, and tonight we are taking an vital step forward to correct this glaring injustice. Our work is not done, but this budget marks an vital milestone for Pennsylvania’s public education system.
I am also proud to see the Commonwealth moving forward with long-awaited investments and reforms to our higher education system. Democrats began to lead on this in 2017 with our PA Promise plan and then with our transparency and accountability requirements for higher education. We have finally achieved something that will improve access and affordability for students and families, and ultimately improve our workforce. We are pleased to see the groundwork we began seven years ago with PA Promise deliver major changes to higher education in Pennsylvania.
“Overall, we are providing large increases for education, affordable housing, public safety, and a range of new investments in economic development initiatives. The investments we are making in this budget will have a significant impact on opportunity and growth for Pennsylvanians across the Commonwealth. Of course, with divided government, there is more for Democrats to fight over as we make future allocations, but we have taken a solid step forward with what we passed today.”
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