On May 29, Pennsylvania House leaders introduced HB 1437, the House Republican budget proposal for 2013-2014. The proposal spends $28.3 billion, which is a $578 million or 2.1 percent increase over the current fiscal year. The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider the budget bill this week, setting the stage for a full House debate the week of June 10.

Governor Corbett delivered in February a budget proposal of $28.4 billion. Regarding education line items, HB 1437 is mostly the same as the Governor’s
proposal, with several exceptions:

• For the Basic Education subsidy, the House Republicans propose $5.503 billion which is an increase of $100 million over the current year.
• For the School Employees’ Social Security appropriation, the House Republicans propose $522.5 which is an actual decrease of $21.938 million from the current year.
• For the School Employees’ Retirement appropriation, the House Republicans propose $1.017 billion which is a lesser increase of $160.948 million over the current year. The House Republicans were able to realize savings in these line items due to the 10,000 fewer public school employees in the Pennsylvania School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) — an effect of prior budget cuts to education.

Click here to view a summary (from EPLC) of the House Republicans’ education appropriations contained in the budget bill.

On June 3, the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Caucus presented its budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year. Democratic Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) along withseveral members of the caucus revealed education, job creation and Medicaid expansion as the priorities in their budget.Sen. Costa said the Senate Democratic Caucus’s plan is different from the budget proposals presented by the governor and House Republicans.

Click here for the full article.

Sources: EPLC Education Notebook, June 3, 2013; myPLS Press Release, June 3, 2013.