Governor Josh Shapiro joined Pennsylvanians with intellectual disabilities and autism (ID/A), caregivers and advocates, and legislative leaders for a ceremonial bill signing to highlight the 2024-25 budget he signed into law last week. Before the signing, the Governor hosted Special Olympics Pennsylvania for a bocce tournament and brunch at the Governor’s Residence.

For years, the ID/A community demanded real help – and Governor Shapiro heard them loud and clear. This budget finally stands up for Pennsylvanians with ID/A and the direct support professionals (DSPs) who care for them by securing $354.8 million in federal and state funding to provide more resources for home and community-based service providers, which includes $280 million to help raise wages for the direct support professionals who care for Pennsylvanians and $74.8 million to begin the process of clearing the emergency waiting list – ensuring more Pennsylvanians receive the care they need and deserve.

The bipartisan 2024-25 budget investments build on the $17.49 million secured in the 2023-24 budget to help an additional 850 Pennsylvanians with ID/A get off the home and community-based services waiting list.

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With the passage of the 2024-25 Pennsylvania budget, higher education in the commonwealth received the following:

-The creation of a new State Board of Higher Education that will, for the first time, coordinate every sector of higher education in Pennsylvania and utilize student-level data to determine what’s working and what’s not. The board will ensure higher education in Pennsylvania supports critical workforce needs and serves as an economic driver for generations to come. The board will also create a performance-based funding council that will develop recommendations on how to create a performance-based funding formula to drive funds to state-related institutions.

-Investments in public higher education institutions, including a $15.7 million increase – a 6 percent increase – for community colleges and $35.1 million increase for PASSHE schools – also a 6 percent increase.

-Funds to makes higher education more affordable for students with over $120 million in increased funding for scholarships and grants, including $28 million for scholarships to students pursuing a degree in a high-demand field, a $54 million increase to PHEAA student grants, and $5 million for disadvantaged students’ scholarships.

-Double the funding for student teacher stipends for a total of $20 million to ensure student teachers are compensated for their hard work. For more information, click here.

In the 2023-24 budget, Governor Josh Shapiro secured the largest increase in K-12 basic education funding in Pennsylvania up to that point and secured universal free breakfast for 1.7 million students.

The 2024-25 budget builds on this historic progress and makes the largest investment in Commonwealth history in K-12 public education and delivers a comprehensive solution on K-12 education in Pennsylvania, including:
-$1.11 billion in total increases in K-12 public education funding – and drives those dollars out in a more equitable manner to the schools that need it most under a new formula.
-$100 million in sustainable funding for environmental repair and other facilities in schools to create safe and healthy environments for students to learn in and teachers to teach in, including $25 million for Solar for Schools.
-A $100 million increase for special education funding, reinforcing Pennsylvania’s commitment to equitable education for all students.
-A $100 million cyber charter reimbursement to better align tuition with the actual costs of providing an online education and save school districts millions annually.

In the 2023-24 budget, Governor Shapiro secured $100 million for student mental health services and $20 million for county mental health support. The final 2024-25 budget matches those investments and takes a step further by continuing an annual $100 million in mental health funding for K-12 schools, building upon one-time federal funds to ensure schools have the continued resources to provide mental health services to students and staff and increasing another $20 million for county mental health.

Also, to help parents and families in the PA workforce cannot succeed if there is a lack of affordable childcare – and the new budget makes a critically needed $17.7 million increase for early childhood education, including:
-$15 million for the Pre-K Counts program.
-$2.7 million for the Head Start Supplement Assistance program to support our early learners and stabilize our workforce.

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On July 11, 2024, the PA State Board of Education held its 381st meeting at the PDE offices and via Zoom. At the meeting, Bureau of Career and Technical Education Director Judd Pittman delivered a report from his bureau and thanked the Board for its support. He also acknowledged action items seeking re-accreditation as applied for by the Clearfield County Career and Technology Center and Indiana County Technology Center. Those requests were approved by the Board later in the meeting.

There was also discussion as to the Lebanon County Career and Technology Center’s not seeking re-accreditation for its Licensed Practical Nursing program and the affect it will have on current LPN program students. The Board was informed by committee chair Ernest Hadrick of that issue, which will be further addressed at the September meeting.

The Board also approved the updates to the accreditation guidelines for public postsecondary career and technical education.