By MARC LEVY Associated Press
Pennsylvania lawmakers began grinding through a series of votes Thursday to finalize a budget deal that took nearly two weeks into the new fiscal year to reach, slowed by disagreements during closed-door negotiations over Democrats' push for more public schools aid.
The $47.6 billion plan for the fiscal year that started July 1 represents a 6% increase over last year's approved spending, with most of the new money going toward public schools, services for adults with intellectual disabilities and nursing home care for the poor.
The plan also devotes more money to making college more affordable in a state that is rated as among the worst in the nation in affordability.
Hundreds of pages of budget-related legislation were just starting to become public Thursday, with briefings of rank-and-file lawmakers and votes expected to last much of the day in the Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic-controlled House.
The legislation could reach Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro's desk by late Thursday, within hours of being unveiled.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, is a prolific TikTok poster, with his efforts beginning on the campaign trail through a personal account.AP Photo/Matt Rourke, FileThe plan does not increase sales or income tax rates, the state's two major revenue sources, although the package carries tax cuts for businesses to deduct more losses and students to deduct loan interest.
It will require some of the state's $14 billion in surplus cash to balance, reserves that accumulated the last three years thanks to federal COVID-19 aid and inflation-juiced tax collections. Shapiro initially sought a 7% increase to $48.3 billion.
For public schools, the legislation will deliver about $900 million more for instruction and special education, about a 9% increase, plus hundreds of millions more in new subsidies for school construction and tuition to private and cyber charter schools.
A substantial portion of the aid — about $526 million — is designed to represent the first step in a multiyear process to respond to a court decision that found the state's system of school funding violates the constitutional rights of students in poorer districts.
For weeks, a behind-the-scenes struggle played out between Republicans and Democrats over how to distribute the money.
In any case, the total amount falls well short of the amount — a $6.2 billion increase phased in over five years — sought for underfunded districts by the school districts that sued and won in court. It's also smaller than the $870 million Democrats had pursued as the first step of a seven-year, $5.1 billion increase.
For higher education, the plan devotes an additional $260 million, or about 13% more, with most of the increase headed to the state-owned university system and to the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency to expand grants to students.
Making college more affordable was a focus of Shapiro's and Republican lawmakers in recent months. Still, the plan gives no increase in aid to Temple University, the University of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania State University to subsidize in-state tuition.
The Old Main building on the campus of Penn State University in spring sunny day, State College, Pennsylvania.GettyOn the human services side, a priority of Shapiro's, ending a waiting list of thousands of families who need help for an intellectually disabled adult relative, will get an additional $228 million, or 10% more, as the first step in a multiyear plan.
Nursing home operators will get a slight increase in rates amid warnings that Medicaid reimbursements are too low to cover their costs, forcing a growing number of homes to close.
