Governor Josh Shapiro signed a new $50.1 billion spending plan for the state last week which includes more than $900 million in increases for education.

Allotments will go toward adequacy funding for financially struggling districts ($565 million), special education ($40 million), and Ready to Learn block grants. Other investments include $125 million for school infrastructure, $100 million for mental health and school safety, and reforms to cyber charter school funding that aim to provide savings for districts, according to a Shapiro administration press release.

The budget also includes funding for universal free breakfast, mental health support in schools, and repairing school infrastructure.

Among school districts in greater Glenside, Abington will receive a total of $12,320,208 (2.5% increase), Cheltenham will receive $7,375,405, (1.4% increase), Jenkintown will receive $1,154,482 (1.9% increase), Lower Moreland will receive $3,869,397 (1.6% increase), Springfield will receive $2,643,095 (1.4% increase), and Upper Moreland will receive $6,629,468 (2.1% increase), The Pottstown Mercury reported.

PA School Works issued the following statement regarding the budget:

This budget includes transformational funding to keep our public schools operating with another critical year of adequacy funding directed to the schools most affected by decades of underfunding, as directed by the Commonwealth Court. For two straight years, a bipartisan commitment to adequacy signals that lawmakers have made this a non-negotiable priority until full constitutional compliance is achieved — that represents progress and integrity.

While the delayed budget makes planning and operations difficult for public schools, this agreement demonstrates what’s possible when our leaders prioritize students and work together to meet Pennsylvania’s constitutional duty to provide a ‘thorough and efficient’ public education system.

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