Pennsylvania Legislative Summary

The Pennsylvania General Assembly

Pennsylvania's legislature, the General Assembly, is a bicameral body consisting of a 50-member Senate and a 203-member House of Representatives, for a total of 253 legislators. Senators serve four-year staggered terms, with roughly half of seats up for election every two years. House members serve two-year terms. The current chamber is divided along party lines: Republicans hold a 27–23 majority in the Senate, while Democrats hold a narrow 102–97 majority in the House (with vacancies). This split-control dynamic — a Democratic governor, a Democratic-leaning House, and a Republican-led Senate — has defined much of the legislative tension over the past year, particularly on education funding. Senate President pro tempore is Kim Ward (R) and House Speaker is Joanna McClinton (D).

Legislative Highlights: 2024–2025

School Funding Reform and the Adequacy Gap

The dominant education story of the past year has been Pennsylvania's ongoing reckoning with a landmark 2023 court ruling that found the state's school funding system unconstitutional. A bipartisan commission subsequently identified a roughly $5.1 billion "adequacy gap" — the amount needed to properly fund the commonwealth's poorest districts. In June 2024, the Democratic-led House passed House Bill 2370 on a bipartisan 107–94 vote, which would have codified a seven-year plan to close the gap. The Republican-controlled Senate declined to take up the bill, leaving the funding formula unresolved heading into budget negotiations.

The 2025–26 budget, ultimately signed by Governor Shapiro in November 2025 (four months past the constitutional deadline due to a prolonged impasse), allocated $665 million in new public education funding. This included $565 million toward adequacy funding, $105 million for Basic Education Funding, and a $40 million increase for Special Education. Since taking office, Governor Shapiro has increased total education funding by nearly $3 billion.

Structured Literacy and Reading Reform

Two significant literacy laws were enacted in this period. Act 135 of 2024, signed in October 2024, expanded access to structured literacy instruction across Pennsylvania schools. Building on this, Act 47 of 2025, passed as part of the School Code bill (SB 315), established statewide requirements for evidence-based reading curricula, universal K–3 literacy screening, targeted reading interventions, and professional development aligned to the science of reading. Schools must be in compliance by the 2027–28 school year. The 2025–26 budget allocated $10 million for literacy initiatives and implementation.

Cyber Charter School Reform

The House passed cyber charter reform legislation in 2025 (104–98), which would cap tuition payments that traditional school districts are required to make to cyber charter schools — estimated to save districts approximately $616 million annually. The bill now awaits action in the Senate. The 2025–26 budget also included $175 million in cyber charter reforms as part of the broader School Code bill.

School Choice and Voucher Debate

The Senate Education Committee advanced the "Lifeline Scholarship Program" (Senate Bill 10), which would provide Education Spending Accounts of up to $10,000 (standard) or $15,000 (special education) for students attending a school ranked in the bottom 15% of academic performance to use at a private school. The bill has not advanced to a full Senate vote, and it faces strong opposition in the Democratic-led House, keeping school choice a central and unresolved legislative fault line.

Educator Workforce

Addressing a statewide teacher shortage, the 2025–26 budget doubled funding for the Student Teacher Support Program to $40 million, with recipients required to teach in Pennsylvania for at least three years. The Shapiro Administration also launched an Accelerated Special Education Teacher Certification Program, helping train and place more than 450 special education teachers. Career and technical education funding rose to $183 million — a more than 50% increase since Governor Shapiro took office.

Assessment-Related Legislation

Act 47 of 2025's universal K–3 literacy screening requirement directly connects to the PSSA by establishing early identification of students at risk of reading difficulties before they reach the tested grades. Pennsylvania also waived Science PSSA proficiency reporting for 2024–25 as the state transitions to updated science standards, with only participation rates reported during this transition period. The 2024–25 assessment results, released in fall 2025, showed Math PSSA proficiency rising for the second consecutive year (to 41.7%) while ELA proficiency dipped to 49.9% — trends that have added urgency to the literacy reform agenda in the legislature.