"With the bills I will sign tonight and the coming days, we haven't just finalized a budget," said Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro on Wednesday night. "We have gone even further to address the real challenges facing people in Pennsylvania."

When Shapiro laid his pen down around 10:30pm, he signaled that the Pennsylvania state budget would be officially distributed to all the departments, programs, etc. in the state.

"It's important to the people we serve to have it finalized and done," said Representative Clint Owlett, who represents parts of Tioga and Bradford counties. "It brings some consistency and predictability to their life and that's what they deserve from their state government."

It has been 4 months and 11 days-August 3- since Shapiro signed the 2023/24 budget into law. The state knew how much money would be in this years budget, but disagreements on education funding led to continued discussion on how to spend that money in education.

Most of the $44.4 billion of Pennsylvania's general fund left the treasury and was free to use. But some programs required specific laws to release that money. Senators, Representatives, and the Governor still had disagreements on how to fund education in the commonwealth. So bills specific to some education programs stayed as bills, until last night.

House bill 1300, House Bill 301, and Senate Bill 843 released over $1 billion into specific education funds, like Educational Improvement Tax Credits (EITC) or mental health services for students. Those laws were linked to more than just education programs though. Money for areas like community colleges, libraries, public transportation, and even hospital and 9-1-1 operations were also just approved.

While legislators have expressed relief that the final budget details were finished in the same year it was signed, some are already looking ahead.

"You need to check with your local official to find out the things that you are interested in, did they get funded," said Senator Anthony H. Williams, who represents parts of Delaware and Philadelphia counties. "And if they did not, we need to apply constructive pressure upon all of us to get a complete budget passed with all these issues."

The Pennsylvania legislature is finished with the first half of the 2023/24 session. They plan to meet at least one day in the first week of January. Appropriations meetings for the 2024/25 budget will start in February after the Governor's budget address on February 6th.