HARRISBURG — Gov. Josh Shapiro wants to include $565 million in this year’s budget to continue closing an “adequacy gap” among public schools as his fellow Democrats push a proposal to overhaul tax credit programs that fund private school scholarships.

Republicans who control the state Senate have pushed back, calling for changes to the formula adopted two years ago to rectify the funding disparity and for an expansion of the scholarships.

While a dispute over education funding contributed to a months-long budget impasse a few years ago, one key lawmaker thinks the issue won’t be much of a sticking point, in part because lawmakers in the divided state legislature are pursuing a less ambitious agenda.

“Last year’s education code bill was extremely dense and had a lot of things in it that we were extremely proud of,” said state Rep. Pete Schweyer (D., Lehigh), who chairs the House Education Committee, referencing additional oversight of cyber charter schools and a reduction in the money districts pay them.

“This year, I don’t think it’s gonna be quite as robust, but I don’t necessarily think it has to be.”

The state budget, negotiated behind closed doors by the governor’s staff and top lawmakers, is due June 30. While the major players have offered few details about negotiations publicly, they have all sounded optimistic they will avoid a prolonged impasse. Still, there remain differences of opinion, primarily on overall spending.

The ‘adequacy’ conversation

Looming over all discussions about education is a 2023 ruling in which a state court found Pennsylvania’s school funding approach to be unconstitutionally inequitable and ordered lawmakers to fix it.

In response, the legislature in 2024 adopted a state budget that acknowledged a $4.5 billion “adequacy” gap and instituted a formula that uses factors such as poverty and level of English proficiency to decide how much additional money a district should receive. Lawmakers have so far appropriated more than $1 billion to close the gap.

Shapiro proposed an additional $565 million for underfunded schools this year, and state House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery) told Spotlight PA this month that passing that boost is among his “priorities.” Shapiro also pitched $50 million increases to basic education and special education funding.

But for many Republicans, the adequacy formula has become an issue. State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) told Spotlight PA in early June that his caucus does not support it and that it should be reevaluated: “We view that formula as picking winners and losers.”

Schweyer said any significant changes to the formula this year would likely “elicit some sort of response from the litigants.”