Pennsylvania House of Representatives passes budget, heads to Gov. Shapiro's desk
HARRISBURG (KDKA) - The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has passed a budget.
The House approved a $45.5 billion budget bill overnight and now it heads to Governor Josh Shapiro's desk and he is expected to sign the bill, considering it achieves many of the priorities he laid out in March during his budget address.
The budget includes investments in education, workforce development, public safety, economic and community development, and agriculture.
It also includes a $567 million increase to basic education subsidies, $100 million in level-up funding, and $50 million for special education funding, and that means this budget represents the second-largest increase for basic education funding since the 2015-16 year, according to one house representative.
School vouchers were a big source of contention in this budget with roughly $100 million allocated for a program that would help pay for students to attend private or religious schools.
Proponents of the program said that it would let students in areas without good schools travel to better ones while critics argued it would take money away from public education.
Governor Shapiro was originally for the voucher program and then at the 11th hour said that he would line-item veto the full $100 million, stating that he wanted to explore other options and that he didn't want to hold up the budget from going forward.
Those who were in favor of the voucher program said this is the governor going back on essentially a handshake deal.
The governor is expected to sign the budget in the next few days.