Highlights of Major Education Programs and Funding Levels

State legislative leaders and Governor Tom Corbett agreed on a 2011-12 state budget deal this week. On Tuesday, the PA Senate approved it on a 30-20 party-line vote. The bill now heads to the House of Representatives. The bill would spend just $27.2 billion, down $962 million, or 3.4%, from the 2010-11 budget.

The biggest cuts, in both dollars and percentages, are in education programs, including PreK-12 and higher education.   While the budget makes some funding restorations from the Governor’s original budget proposal, the cuts are still significant:

•    Basic education funding, at $5.35 billion, is cut $421.5 million, or 7.3%, from the current year.
•    Funding for Accountability Block Grants, at $100 million, is cut by $159 million, or 61%.
•    Special education is flat-funded for the third year at just over $1 billion.
•    Charter School reimbursements are fully eliminated (a loss of $224 million).
•    Funding was also eliminated for Educational Assistance (a tutoring program) and school improvement
     grants.
•    Both Head Start and PreK Counts were cut by about 3%.

The cuts in major education programs total $863 million.

Higher education fared much better under the final budget but still sustained cuts of about 18%, or $160 million. Penn State University received a cut of 19%, or $50 million, in basic support. Community colleges will see a 10% cut, or $23.6 million.