After several of my fellow rookie colleagues and I joined House Democratic leadership and the governor to commemorate a historic budget signing, I reflected on what I had heard about Philly schools first-hand over the past year and a half.

Teachers told me that schools lacked enough teachers for basic "three R’s” stuff like 8th-grade algebra, and world languages like French or German, and lacked support staff like paraprofessionals and climate staff. 

Students told me about a scarcity of quality facilities and amenities. Crumbling ceilings. Leaking, half-working bathrooms. No air conditioning. “Prison food” lunches. 

Last year’s PA Commonwealth Court decision left little room for doubt. The judge said the way we fund PA schools is atrocious. More than atrocious – it was unconstitutional and blatantly unfair to students in cities like Philadelphia and rural areas across the commonwealth. 

So, following last year’s $567 million historical education funding, we were determined to give our kids the “thorough and efficient” education PA’s constitution guarantees.

We created a new fair funding formula that weighted students so schools with kids requiring additional supports (e.g., special needs, from high crime/trauma areas, English as second language) got them. We supported “level up” investments for schools in need. We made sure it wasn’t just about money – it was about money going where it was needed the most to help every kid.

But as we fought hard for record investments, a big obstacle was “Lifeline Scholarships.” Lifeline Scholarships are private school vouchers that divert your property taxes to unaccountable private and religious schools. They were the Senate Republicans’ “top priority.” Corporate interests spent large sums of money attacking me and my Democratic colleagues to intimate us to support vouchers. 

But we knew that allowing Lifeline Scholarships to pass in the budget would have taken more money from kids in public schools already starving for critical funding. So we didn’t budge. The billionaire pork barrel “Lifeline Scholarships” were kept out of the budget. 

And now, after decades of chronic underfunding, Pennsylvania public school students finally got a down payment on their future. We negotiated a record $1.3 billion in additional public school funding - and a record $232 million investment in Philly schools in the next academic year alone. 

This funding will be revolutionary. Historic dollars for basic education, special education, mental health services, and student safety. $100 million for facilities, including the transformational “Solar for Schools” program. Millions more for pre-K and after-school programs. And we’re committed to bringing this level of historic funding to the next six budgets. 

Still, the budget we passed was imperfect.

Senate Republican extremists removed our $283 million transit steady stream funding line-item, and then refused to negotiate to put it back in. Philadelphia House Democrats successfully got $80.5 million in additional transit funding back in the budget – $50 million of which will go to SEPTA. 

Governor Shapiro’s words on transit funding before the bill signing, however, were a comfort: “Hear me on this… this is just a start. [We] are committed to returning in the fall and finding a permanent solution for mass transit across Pennsylvania.” Since that night, our delegation has already resumed advocating with the Save the Train Coalition to plan our fall funding strategy.

While we have miles to go before we can claim victory, the wins in this budget are clear and undeniable. For students across the commonwealth, their brightest days still lay ahead.

Rep. Khan represents the 194th District which includes Manayunk, Roxborough, parts of Chestnut Hill and East Falls.