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Lawmakers tout education funding increases in budget
Summary
Lawmakers described a state budget that they say directs new dollars to K–12 adequacy funding, clears CTE waiting lists, boosts special-education support and creates a mandatory 30‑minute recess for K–5 students, while citing a Commonwealth Court mandate as motivation.
A group of lawmakers used floor remarks to outline how the proposed state budget would increase education funding across K–12 and higher education, they said, and to highlight targeted programs for career and technical education, special education and school recess policies.
The speechmaking began with an anecdote used to justify adequacy funding. "The Shikelemy School District has a $16,000,000 adequacy gap, representing nearly 35% of that school district's budget," said Lawmaker (S1), adding that the budget delivers a third installment of adequacy funding and would send about $1,750,000 to that district. The lawmaker framed the provision as keeping a promise to districts the legislature has designated as underfunded.
Why it matters: supporters argued the increases respond to a Commonwealth Court finding that state K–12 funding was unconstitutional and inadequate. "For the third year in a row, this budget responds," Lawmaker (S4) said, noting the package drives $565,000,000 more into education and thanking Governor Shapiro for leadership.
Lawmakers also pointed to program-specific funding. "There are thousands — over 17,000 students — who are on waiting lists to get into career and tech programs," said Lawmaker (S2), and the budget includes $10,000,000 intended to begin clearing that waiting list, with the speaker adding that additional work will be required in future years. Another speaker highlighted the Education Improvement Tax Credit program as a tool that has "grown exponentially" and said it empowers parents (Lawmaker (S3)).
Supporters said the package increases special-education funding and workforce investments. "Today, as a result of our work, we've grown special education funding together by 15%," Lawmaker (S5) said, and the same speaker described a $193,000,000 investment in workforce development and CTE, which was called a 60% increase from four years prior. The speaker also described a new requirement included in the package: a mandatory 30‑minute recess for K–5 students.
The budget also includes a provision to cover $78,000,000 of PACE debt, Lawmaker (S5) said, a measure described as enabling those funds to be redirected to faculty, students and academic programs.
No formal motions or votes were recorded in these segments. Debate in the excerpt focused on funding levels, programmatic priorities and the budget's framing as compliance with a court decision. Further procedural steps or floor votes on the budget were not recorded in this transcript excerpt.
