HARRISBURG, PA − June 25, 2021 − State Senator Lisa Boscola (D-Lehigh/Northampton) today issued the following statement on her decision to vote for the state budget:
“This budget may not have included everything I wanted but without a tax increase it makes significant investments in many of my priorities. In total $200 million will be added to the Fair Funding Formula and an additional $100 million will be provided to school districts that have been historically underfunded, which includes school districts like Bethlehem Area School District. Spending more money through the Fair Funding Formula has been a priority of mine and will help Lehigh Valley School Districts. In total the State will be spending $13.55 billion on pre-k through 12th grade.
The budget also makes critical investments totaling $44 million into career and technical schools. It provides an additional $279 million for transportation infrastructure. It will place over $2 billion dollars in the state rainy day fund. The budget also creates and Angel Investment Fund based off the successful Ben Franklin Program to help grow new businesses here in Pennsylvania.
Decisions on budgets are never easy. They require elected officials to balance competing interests and good and bad provisions. There is definitely more good in this budget, which is why I voted for it.”
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