This week, the House of Representatives amended SB 1466, the budget bill sent over by the Senate last month. The bill remains in the House for further consideration. As passed by the Senate, SB 1466 raises the budget from the $27.15 billion as proposed by Gov. Corbett to $27.65 billion. The Senate plan restored about $500 million in cuts to higher and basic education and social services. The bill also does not include the Student Achievement Education Block Grant (SAEBG) proposed by the governor for combined distribution of funding for the basic subsidy, pupil transportation and school employees Social Security. It does include $50 million in supplemental payments for distressed school districts, as well as $50 million for the Accountability Block Grant (ABG) program.

On Tuesday, June 5, the House adopted nine amendments; one of them provided for an additional $50 million for the ABG, bringing the total to $100 million for the program. Offsets in other areas of the budget included subtracting $24 million from the basic subsidy, bringing the total subsidy amount from $5,404,629,000 to $5,380,629,000.   

Source: PSBA Legislative Report, June 7, 2012.