Harrisburg Watch

Slow Going on Budgets and Other Priorities

The State Legislature has not conducted much business since the opening days of the session in January. There have been few session days, and none will be scheduled until late March. Much of the delay in actual voting days is due to some vacant legislative seats – one in the state Senate and one in the House. A special election will be held on March 25 to fill those vacancies. The Senate special election will have little impact on the overall part breakdown in the Senate. No matter what happens, the Senate will be Republican controlled. The House is a different matter with Republicans and Democrats equally divided at 101 seats each. That special election in District 35 (McKeesport) will decide control of the House. It was previously in Democratic hands. Right now, the first voting session day is scheduled for March 27 – after the special elections.

Governor Shapiro presented his budget to the Legislature on February 4. It included proposed increases in education funding to move PA toward meeting its court-mandated equitable funding level, proposed increases in transportation funding, proposed legalization of adult-use cannabis, regulation of games of skill and a revamp of energy policy. For the most part, his proposals were warmly greeted by Democrats, and not so warmly by Republicans. The Governor has acknowledged that since there is divided legislative control, any budget that is passed will significant negotiation.

Legislative Committees have held hearings on budget priorities and most of the work for the next few months will revolve around the budget.

Education funding continues to be an issue for both Republicans and Democrats  Auditor General Tim DeFoor (a Republican) completed an audit of cyber charter schools and how they are funded. Like his predecessors (from both parties), he was highly critical of how cyber charters are funded, how they utilize their funding and the results they achieve. He underscored the need for necessary changes to the funding formula for cyber charters. The current formula is not based on what it costs the cyber charter school to educate a student, but rather what it would cost to educate that student in his/her sending public school district. Since typical public-school districts have buildings and infrastructure to maintain, their cost to educate a student is oftentimes significantly higher than the cost for a cyber. Cybers are receiving vast amounts of money, putting them into reserve funds and many times paying bonuses to staff and management. DeFoor said that the formula should change and be reflective of what it actually costs the cyber to educate the student.



On February 13, the Shapiro administration filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration over its freezing of federal funds. Shapiro has now announced that $2 billion has been “unfrozen” and will once again be accessible to PA. The federal funds suspension had halted several projects, some of it remediation work on abandoned mines in western PA. Now, the work can recommence, and workers can be paid. However, the lawsuit is continuing, according to Shapiro until there is a final resolution. Any reduction in federal funding that had been planned for could mean that the state would have to supply the missing funds creating budget shortfalls, or halt significant infrastructure work.