The Pennsylvania governor's speech in the Capitol rotunda marks the beginning of budget negotiations with the legislature.
The Pennsylvania governor's speech in the Capitol rotunda marks the beginning of budget negotiations with the legislature.sweeping changes to higher-education institutions The proposal reflects Shapiro’s priorities for the coming legislative year, and marks the beginning of budget negotiations.
The governor and General Assembly will need to make a deal on a spending plan by June 30.Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed spending $100 million to fight violent crime, including the creation of an Office of Gun Violence and hiring additional state police auditors who ensure gun dealers are following regulations.In one of the more pointed moments of his budget address, Gov. Josh Shapiro implored lawmakers to address the state’s shortage of professional caregivers, such as those who help people who need 24/7 medical attention. “The biggest reason why people can’t access care is because there aren’t enough caregivers, and the reason there aren’t enough caregivers is because they aren’t getting paid enough,” he said. “We’re asking someone to do this incredibly difficult, skilled, labor-intensive work, and the state rate that helps determine their paycheck yields about 12 bucks an hour.”In his budget address, Gov. Josh Shapiro reiterated his calls for raising the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour. “It’s anticompetitive and it's hurting our workers,” he said of Pennsylvania’s reliance on the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. “We’ve seen proof that Pennsylvania workers living in border counties would rather drive into another state for work so they can earn a higher wage than take a job at home in Pennsylvania.”Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed a $500 million bond program to attract new businesses to Pennsylvania.SEPTA leaders and Philadelphia elected officials are anxious to see how Shapiro's proposal for $282.8 million in new state funding for transit systems will play in the divided legislature as the largest of them faces a massive deficit and potential deep cuts. To accomplish this, the governor wants to increase by 1.75% the percentage of sales-tax revenue going each year to the Public Transportation Trust Fund. That would generate nearly $1.5 billion over five years for the state's transit systems. Details on how Shapiro would institute a performance-based funding system for state schools remain hazy The budget documents did not offer additional details on Gov. Josh Shapiro’s plan to institute a performance-based funding system for the state-related and state-owned colleges under which schools would get money based on meeting certain benchmarks, such as graduation rates and retention rates.that the criteria would be developed by a bipartisan committee but that it would include a component that for the first time in Pennsylvania would award colleges money for keeping their graduates in the state — addressing a long-standing “brain drain” concern that too many leave for jobs elsewhere. There also will be incentives for producing graduates in such shortage areas as nursing and enrolling first-generation students, he said.Gov. Josh Shapiro called for a $279 million increase in financial aid to college students from families earning $70,000 or less, but that would not kick in until 2025-26.For the first time in six years, the state-related universities — Temple University, Pennsylvania State University, Lincoln University, and the University of Pittsburgh — would see an increase in their basic funding. Shapiro has proposed 5%. That would be a departure from the last five years when their funding was held flat amid legislative battles over the schools’ transparency, research and tuition increases. The schools received more than $603 million collectively in the current year. Shapiro addresses media literacy in schools: 'Our children are being fed half-truths, prejudices, and propaganda nearly every day' In addition to education funding, Gov. Josh Shapiro noted another problem troubling Pennsylvania's education system in his budget address: where kids are getting their information. "Look, our children are being fed half-truths, prejudices, and propaganda nearly every day on their phones and on social media," Shapiro said. He said he had directed the Pennsylvania Department of Education to develop a"toolkit" for teachers and parents on digital literacy and critical thinking. State-owned universities and community colleges to get 15% funding increase under Gov. Shapiro's proposed budget Pennsylvania’s state-owned universities and community colleges would be combined into one system and receive a 15% increase in funding The 15 community colleges and 10 state universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education would get a total of $975 million, up from the $850 million they received collectively this year.Gov. Josh Shapiro is also proposing to set a flat $8,000 rate for what school districts pay cyber charter schools for each enrolled student — a change, has been politically thorny: The schools score poorly on standardized tests, but saw enrollment surge during the pandemic, and school-choice advocates haveGov. Josh Shapiro’s budget includes a more than $1 billion increase in basic education funding, the main pot of money for K-12 public schools. But more significant than the amount of money is how the governor proposes to distribute it. Adopting the recommendation of a legislative panel, Shapiro is calling for devoting $872 million of that increase to a “first-year adequacy investment” — a calculation ofto educate students. That’s a direct response to last year’s Commonwealth Court ruling finding that Pennsylvania’s school funding system is unconstitutional, depriving students, particularly in poorer districts that can’t raise as much money through property taxes, of needed resources.Gov. Josh Shapiro began his budget address by waxing poetic about the unique venue for the speech this year: the Capitol rotunda. “The Pennsylvania General Assembly has never held a joint session in this rotunda, and the governor has never delivered a budget address here until today,” he said.Gov. Josh Shapiro is making a historic address from the Main Rotunda in the state Capitol building, where he is unveiling a $48.34 billion budget, a 6.2% increase over last year’s spending plan. Shapiro is delivering the address from the Main Rotunda for the first time. Traditionally, Pennsylvania’s governors appear before a joint session of the House and Senate within the House chamber. But the chamber is currently being repaired, so the session was convened in the opulent Main Rotunda, with attendees seated on the Moravian mosaic tile floor and the upper levels in the massive dome.Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has returned to her old stomping ground in Harrisburg for Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget address. Parker, who served in Harrisburg for 10 years before joining City Council, is returning to the Capitol for the first time as the leader of Philadelphia.Gov. Josh Shapiro will make his second budget proposal from the Main Rotunda in the Capitol. He’s expected to propose a more than $45 billion budget with sweeping changes to Pennsylvania’s education systems — both higher education and public K-12 schools. While much of the budget attention will be on education, the subject only makes up a portion of Pennsylvania’s annual budget. Shapiro is expected to propose funding increases in economic development, human services, violence prevention, and more.Josh Shapiro made clear that Pennsylvania’s system of higher education wasn’t working, with “colleges competing with one another for a limited dollar — duplicating degree programs, driving up costs, and actually reducing access.”Gov. Josh Shapiro plans to propose $282.8 million in new state funding for public transit in his upcoming budget, administration officials said, a development that comes as a cash-strapped SEPTA prepares for deep service cuts and a fare increase. Shapiro’s new measure would generate an estimated $1.5 billion over five years by increasing the allocation of sales tax revenue dedicated to supporting commonwealth transit systems, the administration said. SEPTA would get the largest cut.Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will deliver his second budget address in Harrisburg Tuesday from the Main Capitol rotunda.
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