Education Budget

Summary of State Appropriations for Education

The following file contains a summary of the funding levels for the state education appropriations in Governor Shapiro's proposed 2023-24 fiscal year budget.

2023-24 Proposed Summary of State Education Appropriations (Excel)

Basic Education Funding

Governor Shapiro's proposed 2023-24 fiscal year budget includes $8,421,751,000 for the Basic Education Funding appropriation. This amount is a $796,627,000 (10.45%) increase over the 2022-23 fiscal year appropriation.  The proposed budget includes:

• Increase of $567,365,000 in the student-weighted distribution formula ($7,872,444,000) to continue sustained investment in school districts.
• As required by the Pennsylvania Public School Code, $225,000,000 for those school districts that received the Level-Up Supplement in 2022-23 will be added to the Base BEF in 2023-24.
• $549,307,000 to be used for School Employees' Social Security payments to school districts.

2023-24 Proposed Basic Education Funding (Excel)

2022-23 Estimated Basic Education Funding (Excel) Updated 3-1-2023

2022-23 Estimated Level Up (Excel) Updated 3-1-2023

Special Education Funding

The 2023-24 Proposed Budget includes $1,440,641,000 for the Special Education appropriation. This amount is a $103,826,000 increase (7.77%) over the 2022-23 fiscal year appropriation.

For the Special Education Funding component, new dollars after the 2013-2014 fiscal year total approximately $386,928,000.

2023-24 Proposed Special Education Funding (Excel)

2022-23 Estimated Special Education Funding (Excel) Updated 3-1-2023

The proposed 2023-24 fiscal year Special Education appropriation also includes funding of approximately $106,178,000 for the following components, per Pennsylvania School Code: Special Education Contingency Fund, Core Services funding to Intermediate Units, Institutionalized Children's Program funding, special education for wards of state students, and special education for students placed out of state.

Ready to Learn Block Grant

The proposed 2023-24 Budget includes $295,500,000 for the Ready to Learn Block Grant.

2023-24 Proposed Ready to Learn Block Grant (Excel)

School-Based Mental Health Block Grant (NEW!)

Governor Shapiro's proposed FY2023-24 Budget includes $100,000,000 to fund the School-Based Mental Health Supports Block Grant to connect students and staff to mental health services and ensure a pipeline of trained school-based mental health professionals in the future. The Block Grant portion of the grant ($80,000,000) provides a $100,000 minimum grant to school districts and a $70,000 minimum grant to charter schools. School districts will receive additional funding based on 2021-22 average daily membership. Funding from other set-asides of the School-Based Mental Health Supports Block Grant appropriation will also support clinical mental health internships for individuals pursuing state certification in this field and training for teachers in mental health.

2023-24 Proposed School-Based Mental Health Block Grant (Excel)

Secondary Career and Technical Education Subsidy

The 2023-24 proposed Budget includes approximately $80,341,000 for the Secondary Career and Technical Education Subsidy.

Read the narrative description and estimated allocations.