The House Appropriations Committee advanced Monday the 2019-20 General Fund budget introduced by the House Republican Caucus.
The proposal features no new taxes, tax increases or additional fees and includes a deposit of more than $250 million into the Rainy Day Fund.
“That level of savings is thanks to years of responsible budgets from the House Republican Caucus,” House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster) said. “Our Commonwealth has capitalized on sound economic policies so that we are not asking taxpayers to dig any deeper into their own pockets, and in growing the Rainy Day Fund, we are better positioned to avoid tax increases down the road.”
The total spending in the proposal is $33.997 billion, a 1.8 percent increase over the current fiscal year.
“This proposal invests our state funds in ways that ensure the interests of taxpayers are always kept first,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Stan Saylor (R-York) said. “We are making strategic investments in places that matter most to our constituents – growing education funding, special education, and career and technical education. These investments empower Pennsylvanians to educate for success and open up doors to family-sustaining careers for every resident of the Commonwealth.”
The budget proposes increasing PreK through 12th-grade education funding by $432 million to the highest levels in state history. Special education funding would increase by $50 million, and career and technical education funding would increase by $10 million, with separate increases for some of the highest-performing technical schools. The proposal also includes an additional $19.5 million in agriculture funding.