2021-22 State Budget

Budget Hearings
Budget Address
Documents
Budget News & Video

Budget Highlights

  • $30 million for gun violence prevention through community programs, managed by PCCD
  • $3 million for food purchase program within Department of Agriculture
  • Major education investments
    • $300 million in basic education
      • $200 million to be funded through the Fair Funding Formula
      • $100 million for Level Up to provide funding for schools that have been historically inadequately funded, including the school districts of Scranton, Reading, Northampton, and Philadelphia
    • $20 million for Ready to Learn block grants
    • $25 million for Pre K Counts
    • $5 million for Headstart
    • $50 million for special education
    • $11 million for early intervention
    • $200 million for PASSHE, over 4 annual installments of $50 million, including the Diversity, Education & Inclusion program proposed by the PA Senate Democrats
2021-22 State Budget
2021-22 State Budget
2021-22 State Budget
2021-22 State Budget Highlighta

2021-22 Budget Hearings

Budget Address

Watch Gov. Tom Wolf deliver his 2021-22 budget address.

Proposed Budget Highlights

Basic Education:

  • Full funding of public schools through the Fair Funding Formula
  • $1.35 billion increase to basic education funding
  • $1 billion in Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grants to address school infrastructure needs in PA
  • $200 million for special education
  • Releases up to $36 million for additional scholarship to students under the Education Improvement Tax Credit and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Programs) 
  • $25 million for Pre-K Counts
  • $11 million increase for Early intervention programs
  • $5 million for the Head Start Supplemental Program
  • Charter School reform for $229 million in savings to school districts
  • Sets cyber charter tuition rates at $9,500 per student
  • Push for $45,000 minimum salary per year for teachers

Higher Education:

  • $199 million for free and affordable college through the Nellie Bly Tuition Program
  • Level funding for higher education

Workforce Development:

  • Proposes minimum wage increase to $12 per hour on July 1, 2021, with a path to $15 per hour
  • Tax deductions for low- and middle-income families
  • Provide $3 billion to workers and businesses to stabilize the economy and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic through the Back to Work PA plan
  • Improves food security and supports farmers by investing $1 million in the Pennsylvania Agriculture Surplus System (PASS)

Human Services:

  • Directs $87 million in federal funding to Child Care Works base rates and create a more stable business environment for child care facilities while improving equal access to child care services
  • $8.3 million to help county and municipal health departments fight COVID-19
  • 13.8 million to provide home and community-based services to 100 individuals with disabilities on waiting list and provide services through the Community Living Waiver to 732 individuals on waiting list
  • Additional $1 million to fund legal services for low-income individuals and families, an issue the caucus has pushed for and will continue to fight for in future budgets
  • $1.25 million for 20 Community Hospital Integration Projects Program (CHIPP) to help reduce state hospital populations
  • $1 million to reduce the number of children and youth in out-of-home placements triggered by homelessness, housing instability, or inadequate housing
PA Budget 2021-2022 - Overview
PA Budget 2021-2022 - Education
PA Budget 2021-2022 - Workforce Development
PA Budget 2021-2022 - Higher Education
PA Budget 2021-2022 - Human Resources

Budget News

Hughes Statement on Budget Passage

Hughes Statement on Budget Passage

Harrisburg, PA − June 25, 2021 − Senate Democratic Appropriations Chair Vincent Hughes issued the following statement tonight regarding the 2021-2022 state budget: “The budget that is being passed today makes progress in a number of areas.  From extra school...

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