State appropriations chair outlines $133 billion budget, highlights education, human services and transit investments

Pennsylvania House Appropriations Committee Chair Jordan Harris, joined by Philadelphia delegation leaders, presented an overview of the governor’s $133 billion budget proposal and answered community questions at a South Philadelphia briefing Thursday evening.

The presentation laid out how the proposal would allocate roughly $51.4 billion in the state’s general fund, about $53.1 billion in federal funds and a series of restricted and other funds. "Pennsylvania's budget is a hundred and $33,000,000,000 — it's so much money that you just can't even conceptualize it," said Courtney Richardson, the Appropriations Committee executive director, as she described the document’s scale and major spending categories.

Why it matters: Committee leaders said the briefing was meant to make technical budget details accessible to neighborhoods that will be affected by funding decisions and to solicit local input before final negotiations in Harrisburg. Delegation members and staff emphasized that the proposal is the governor’s starting point and must still clear the General Assembly and any subsequent negotiations.

Top allocations and proposals

- Education: Committee staff described continued installments aimed at closing Philadelphia’s school funding “adequacy gap,” which the briefing identified as about $1.25 billion. Sean Brandon, the committee’s education analyst, said the proposal includes an annual installment in the range of $136 million toward that gap, plus $440 million for special education and $75 million for basic education increases. The officials said the school district of Philadelphia received about $2.44 billion from the state last year.

- Human services and health: The Department of Human Services (DHS) constitutes the single largest share of the general fund. Committee staff said the governor proposed roughly $2 billion of additional DHS funding over the…