Pennsylvania’s epic budget stalemate ended last week as the Democratic governor backed off his latest veto threat, leaving slivers of his once-ambitious agenda intact after nine months of partisan gridlock that threatened to close schools.
Gov. Tom Wolf’s drive for a multibillion-dollar tax increase from a Republican-controlled legislature to pay for a record increase in public school aid ultimately failed and precipitated a budget fight unlike any seen in modern Pennsylvania history. Only Illinois now remains without a budget.
Pennsylvania’s GOP-penned $6.6 billion budget gives a $200 million boost to public school aid, half what Wolf had originally sought, and a hike of 5 percent for state-subsidized universities.
