2023/24 School Facilities Funding

By Sean Brandon , Assistant Executive Director | one year ago
K thru 12 Analyst: Sean Brandon, Assistant Executive Director

• On July 30, 2023, educators, advocates, labor leaders and concerned parents joined dozens of House and Senate democrats, school district officials, unions, teachers, and staff at South Philadelphia High School and vowed to invest in deteriorating public school buildings across Pennsylvania. On December 13, 2023, the House Democrats took the lead in the first step toward addressing this problem.t;/span>

• Last week, the legislature passed and the Governor signed into law the School Code (Act No. 33) and the Fiscal Code (Act No. 34). These two pieces of legislation create two new programs to upgrade school facilities in Pennsylvania. The law allocates $75 million to the School Environmental Repairs Program. This program will be administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The law allocates $100 million to the Public School Facility Improvement Grant Program which will be administered by the Commonwealth Financing Authority.
• In total this $175 million represents a first-of-its-kind investment in projects like roof repairs or boiler replacement – major repairs that often get deferred. This funding for environmental repairs and improvement projects, coupled with a record investment in basic education, is a significant first step toward adequately and equitably funding our public schools.