Committee defends Act 73 foundation formula, asks for oversight of Agency of Education spending

Committee members on Jan. 27 repeatedly defended the foundation formula in Act 73 as the statute's most important element while proposing additional oversight of Agency of Education (AOE) spending on outside consultants and urging hearings on CTE.

One member said the foundation formula should be preserved and warned against assuming the formula requires massive districts to function. That member cited national district-size statistics and said district size should be determined by evidence, not by default.

The hearing also raised questions about AOE contracting. "They have probably spent over $1,000,000 now on APA Consulting," a committee member said, adding that "it was $823,000 as of July, July, 2025" as a figure cited in the hearing. Members asked for a line-item budget and for appropriations to examine consulting expenditures and the agency's use of funds.

Committee members emphasized programmatic priorities: career and technical education (CTE), special education, literacy and mental health supports. Several called for a CTE-focused hearing and coordination with CTE directors and the Department of Labor to ensure workforce alignment.

Context and next steps: Members suggested the committee schedule focused hearings to examine AOE's budget lines and CTE program design, and consider using targeted school construction dollars or technical assistance to help districts that want to consolidate voluntarily rather than imposing immediate large-scale boundary changes.

"I think the most important thing we did in Act 73 is the foundation formula," a committee member said, arguing the formula is the part of the law they should defend while addressing other implementation issues through hearings and fiscal review.

The committee asked staff to prepare materials that show AOE spending detail and to set up a CTE hearing in the coming weeks.