281 days after Governor Josh Shapiro proposed his 2025-26 budget, the Pennsylvania House and Senate have reached a compromise agreement.
Pennsylvania is one of only three states in the country with a divided legislature, with a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives and a Republican majority in the Senate. Before Governor Shapiro signed the budget this afternoon, Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis emphasized that the passage of the state budget contrasts the “chaos going on in Washington D.C.” as the federal legislature works to end a government shutdown.
Shapiro said that the process of fighting daily to come to a bipartisan agreement has brought Republicans and Democrats together, despite the fact that passing a budget took much longer than any of them had hoped.
The $50.1 billion spending plan does not include new revenue streams like the legalization of recreational marijuana, which had previously been discussed. It does, however, increase spending on several human services programs, and continues recent budgets’ focus on education.
In a statement following the House’s vote on Wednesday, State Representative Mike Schlossberg praised the plan’s investment in school district funding, noting the positive impacts it will have on schools in the Lehigh Valley. The budget increases the Adequacy Formula to bring underfunded schools up to standard, reforms the charter school system to provide funding more equal to that given to public schools, and increases funds for college scholarship and grant programs.
Other budgeted priorities include workforce development and job creation, affordable and quality healthcare, and public safety.
