On Veteran’s day, Governor Shapiro signed PA 2025-26 budget into law featuring tax cuts for working families and historic increases in public education after the months-long senate impasse fueled by partisan budgeting dissent.
Senator Santarsiero (D-10) writes in a press release the day of the signing, “This budget represents a compromise that still delivers on our key caucus priorities: affordability, education, public safety, and the economy. I’m happy to report that this budget secures a major win for working families with our new Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit. It provides additional funding for childcare and for programs to help our food banks as folks are struggling with the suspension of SNAP benefits by the Trump Administration. Affordability for Pennsylvanians is the throughline of this budget.”
The budget totals $50.1 billion, notably seeing a $565 million increase to public education including cyber charter school reform leading to $175 million in savings to public schools, the creation of the Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit providing nearly one million Pennsylvanians $193 million in tax relief in its first year, providing increased funding to social safety-net programs including an $11 million increase toward food security.
No new revenue sources were agreed upon including the popular options of taxes on marijuana, sports-betting and online gaming. Despite this, the budget keeps the $7.4 billion rainy day fund intact yet uses almost $4 billion from other unused funding reserves from previous years.
The key concession PA senate Democrats made for senate Republicans to agree to the budget bill was ending the ongoing attempt since 2019 to make Pennsylvania the only major fossil fuel-producing state to limit the carbon emissions companies are permitted to emit.
The deal marks the end to the four month impasse since the June 30 budget deadline which halted approximately $5.3 billion in funding payments to Pennsylvania public schools from July to October, according to the Pennsylvania State Education Association.
On the extended impasse, Gov. Shapiro told reporters at a press release conference following the budget’s signing, “I could have stood here on June 30 and brought you a budget that looked really different, that didn’t have education funding, that didn’t focus on our workforce development, didn’t have a tax credit for working families… the key when you’re in these positions — I know the leaders feel the same way — is staying at the table.”