Education funding

Sen. Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia, said new school funding in the budget package helps reach one of Wolf’s first-term goals, to resolve a deep budget-balancing cut in state aid to public schools and universities in 2011 under then-Republican Gov. Tom Corbett.

It is arguable that education funding has fully rebounded since the roughly $1.1 billion cut in 2011, although that money has not necessarily returned to where it was cut from.

For instance, school districts — particularly Philadelphia — were once reimbursed for the cost of paying for students to be educated at a charter school. That reimbursement has not reappeared.

The State System of Higher Education and Pennsylvania’s four state-related universities — the University of Pittsburgh and Temple, Lincoln and Penn State universities — saw cuts of about $220 million collectively and, at $1.05 billion in total state aid in the coming year, remain about $140 million below their 2010 funding level.

Meanwhile, significant increases have gone to pre-kindergarten programs and special education, although both programs were relatively protected from 2011’s cuts.

Still, the Philadelphiabased Education Law Center said that, despite new money for public schools in the budget, the state “has miles to go to achieve a fair and adequate funding system.”