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HARRISBURG, PA (August 26, 2025) — At a press conference in the state Capitol today, Pennsylvania State Education Association leaders called on lawmakers to pass a REAL FY 2025-26 state budget that makes critical investments in our public schools — including the second installment in the multiyear school funding adequacy plan.

They also urged state senators to reject any efforts to tie budget passage to a tuition voucher scheme that will send taxpayer dollars to private and religious schools.

Earlier this month, state Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward said on a radio show that she is holding up the state budget until lawmakers agree to her plan to send millions of our tax dollars to private and religious schools.

“Our kids are not bargaining chips,” PSEA President Aaron Chapin said. “Our kids are not pawns in some grand strategy to enact a tuition voucher scheme that will shift taxpayer dollars away from our public schools and send them to private and religious schools.”

In particular, Chapin called on Senate Republicans to do the right thing and pass a 2025-26 state budget that invests in Pennsylvania’s public schools, where 90% of students learn.

Budget delay freezes state funding

The 2025-26 state budget is eight weeks overdue. The new fiscal year began on July 1.

The extended delay means school districts, intermediate units, and other school entities are not receiving regular monthly funding payments from the state.

Missed payments during July and August amount to $1.75 billion statewide.

“Our educators and support professionals are worried about what it could mean for our schools and our students now and in the weeks to come — if our state legislators do not come to an agreement,” said educator Jimbo Lamb, president-elect of PSEA’s Southern Region and a member of the Annville-Cleona Education Association.

Christina Rojas, a speech-language pathologist in the City of Lancaster School District and president of the Lancaster Education Association, noted that her district recently authorized a $35 million loan because the school district may run out of money to pay its bills by the middle of September due to the budget impasse. So far, the school district has missed $23.7 million in state payments.

“In my school district, our local revenue makes up only one-third of our budget,” Rojas said. “State funding is critical for our kids. Without it, just last week, our school board had no choice but to approve a move to take out a $35 million loan.

“That loan will cost an extra $200,000 in taxpayer funds for just fees and interest — money that could have gone toward more teachers, paraprofessionals, and services for our growing number of students with autism. Instead, it’s being wasted because our kids are being used as pawns in a political game.”

Vouchers would be a mistake

Chapin, Lamb, and Rojas noted that private school vouchers would siphon millions of our taxpayer dollars away from public schools and direct them to private and religious schools.

“School vouchers have proven to be expensive failures everywhere they have been tried,” Lamb said. “We do not need to repeat others’ mistakes here in Pennsylvania.”

Michigan State researcher Josh Cowen found that the learning losses from voucher programs in Louisiana and Ohio were worse than those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and that learning losses from programs in Washington, D.C., and Indiana were on par with those caused by Hurricane Katrina.

“Vouchers fail to deliver for the kids who are most in need,” Chapin said.

Time to pass a budget

Chapin said the time has come for lawmakers to find common ground and pass a real FY 2025-26 state budget.

“The people of Pennsylvania want their elected leaders to stand up for the students and families in their communities and finalize a budget that invests in Pennsylvania’s public schools, where 90% of students learn,” Chapin said.

Impact by school entity

A full list of all school entities and the state funding they have missed in July and August because of the state budget impasse is available at www.psea.org/budget.

Chapin is a Stroudsburg Area middle school teacher and president of PSEA. An affiliate of the National Education Association, PSEA represents about 177,000 active and retired educators and school employees, aspiring educators, higher education staff, and health care workers in Pennsylvania.