Sweeping changes are coming to the Philadelphia School District, with officials promising large-scale school closings, co-locations, grade reconfigurations, and new construction over the next several years.
But those working closely on the facilities planning process said Monday that four themes are emerging that will shape the recommendations: strengthening K-8 schools, reinvesting in neighborhood schools, reducing school transitions for students, and expanding access to grades 5-12 criteria-based schools.
“Many school programs with declining enrollment, or which operate in aging buildings, struggle to offer a full range of high-quality classes, activities, enrichment opportunities, and supports,” the district said.
Students and teachers in K-8 schoolsneed better spaces and staffing and more resources, and the district cannot achieve that in its current configuration — the district has 216 schools but about 300 buildings, many of which are in poor shape. And enrollment is unevenly distributed — some schools, particularly those in the Northeast, are overcrowded, whileothers have thousands of empty seats.
Citywide, there are 70,000 excess seats in district schools.
The district might merge two schools or co-locate multiple schools in a single building, said Claire Landau, a senior adviser to Watlington tasked with steering the facilities planning process. It might also invest in “more suitable buildings.”
Reinvesting in neighborhood high schools
“Some neighborhood high schools lack a full range of academic enrichment and post-high school preparation pathways, while some smaller magnet high schools lack extracurricular programs and diverse enrichment opportunities,” the district said.
Possible outcomes for reinvesting in neighborhood high schools include “targeted building improvements,” partnerships, and theme-based or career-connected programs in the district’s traditional neighborhood high schools.
Reducing school transitions for students
“Transitions for schools can be disruptive to learning and community connection. Research supports that students do better when they have fewer transitions between school programs during their pre-K-12 experience,” the district said.
There are currently 13 different grade configurations in the district; the aim is to shrink that. To achieve this, the district could increase pre-K-8 schools and adjust grade configurations.
Expanding access to grades 5-12 criteria-based schools
“Philadelphia community desires schools that allow students to learn in one community from middle grades through high school,” the district said. (Some of those already exist — Masterman, for instance, and GAMP.)
To achieve that goal, the district could create more seats at existing 5-12 schools, or create new 5-12 pathways, with an eye toward neighborhood equity.
“This is not going to be a plan that erases or proposes to move away from all of our more traditional middle school grade spans, but we will be looking for opportunities to provide more access to pre-K-through-8 programming and 5-through-12 programming — because of how much support we’ve heard for it from communities across this process as well as what the research shows as far as students doing better in these environments,” said Landau.
The mayor weighs in
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker weighed in on the matter at a district hearing before City Council on Tuesday, saying she was in lockstep with Watlington and the school board president.
“We need to recreate a comprehensive plan for repurposing every underutilized school building in the city of Philadelphia,” Parker said.
But, the mayor said, “that plan will have to include housing, and that includes housing for public servants and educators who deserve to live in the communities that they serve, along with thinking about access to the repurposing of those buildings, to aid us in our desire to build affordable and workforce housing in the city of Philadelphia.”
The Education Department plans to announce Tuesdaythat it will move multiple parts of the agency to other federal departments, an unprecedented and unilateral effort to dismantle an agency created by Congress to ensure all Americans have equal access to educational opportunity and better coordinate federal programs.
The move was described by three people informed of the plan ahead of the announcement. Two of these people said six offices within the department would be shifted elsewhere; the third person said it was at least two.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March seeking to close the department and asked Education Secretary Linda McMahon to work with Congress to do so. The agency, which was created in 1979, has long been derided by conservatives as unnecessary and ineffective. But Congress has not acted on or seriously considered Trump’s request.
McMahon has acknowledged that only Congress can eliminate the department but vowed to do everything in her power to dismantle it from within.
Asked for comment, an Education Department spokeswoman suggested some information provided to The Post about the plan was inaccurate, but did not offer specifics.
Supporters of the department say that the agency is effective in coordinating multiple aspects of education in one place and keeping priorities important to students, parents and schools high on the federal agenda.
Offices that could be moved out of the agency include the Office for Civil Rights, which investigates allegations of discrimination on the basis of race, sex and disability; the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, which administers the $15 billion Individuals with Disabilities Act program; and the Indian Education program; the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which administers K-12 grant programs; and the Office of Postsecondary Education.
Federal law directs that these programs be housed in the Education Department. The Trump administration is employing a work-around, the people briefed on the matter said, whereby other government agencies would run the Education programs under a contract with the Education Department. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the changes.
The Trump administration laid the groundwork for this changeearlier this year when it signed an agreement to move career, technical and adult education grantsout of the Education Department to the Labor Department. Under the arrangement, Education retains oversight and leadership while managing the programs alongside Labor, a way of sidestepping thefederal statute.
“We believe that other department functions would benefit from similar collaborations,” McMahon wrote in an op-ed essay published Monday in USA Today.
More broadly, McMahon has argued that the recently ended government shutdown showed how unnecessary her agency is.
“Students kept going to class. Teachers continued to get paid. There were no disruptions in sports seasons or bus routes,” she wrote. “The shutdown proved an argument that conservatives have been making for 45 years: The U.S. Department of Education is mostly a pass-through for funds that are best managed by the states.”
The turning point in Pennsylvania’s budget impasse, by Gov. Josh Shapiro’s telling, came just before Halloween, when he and leaders in Harrisburg gathered in his stately, wood-paneled office to meet twice daily to hash out a deal to end the bitter, monthslong stalemate.
The long grind eventually led to compromises 135 days in, and a deal Shapiro said he thinks is far better than what national Democrats, hoping to extend healthcare subsidies, got in Washington at the end of the federal shutdown.
“Sometimes you’ve got to show that you’re willing to stay at the table and fight and bring people together in order to deliver,” Shapiro told The Inquirer in an interview Friday, touting the state budget agreement finally signed that week.
“I think it’s a stark contrast, frankly, with what happened in D.C., where they didn’t stay at the table, they didn’t fight, and they got nothing,” he said.
Washington is controlled by Republicans, while in Pennsylvania, Democrats control the state House and governorship, and Republicans hold a majority in the Senate.
Both state and federal budgets were signed the same day, offering Pennsylvanians relief from more than a month of government dysfunction at two levels. But for Shapiro — an exceedingly popular Democratic governor facing reelection in 2026 as whispers swirl over his potential 2028 presidential ambitions — the moment was bigger than a procedural win. In the end, Shapiro, preaching his oft-used slogan of “getting things done,” cast the outcome as proof he can muscle through gridlock of a divided legislature, cut deals under pressure, and hold firm where others cave.
So what if it took almost five months? Shapiro argues. At least he didn’t fold.
“I would have hoped to have gotten this budget done, you know, 100 or so days earlier,” Shapiro said, putting pen to paper in the state Capitol building’s baroque reception room last week. “But I think what you also saw was the result of having the courage to stay at the table and keep fighting for what you believe in. And we got a lot more than we gave in this budget.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro signs the fiscal year 2025-26 budget surrounded by General Assembly members on Nov. 12 at the Capitol in Harrisburg. The state budget had been due June 30, and Pennsylvania the final state in the country to approve a funding deal.
Critics are quick to note it took the self-proclaimed dealmaker so long to get a deal. Counties, school districts, and nonprofits struggled through four months without state payments while officials remained at loggerheads.Pennsylvania was the last state in the nation to pass a spending plan for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
“He’s five months late. He’s the governor of the fifth-biggest state in the country and the last state to get a budget done,” GOP consultant Vince Galko said. “It’s not a failing grade because it got done, but it’s still a D.”
‘A tremendous cost’
The $50.1 billion budget includes several key priorities for Shapiro and Democrats: significant increases in public education funding, a new tax credit for lower- and middle-income residents, continuation of a popular student-teacher stipend, and other economic and workforce development initiatives.
House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) heaped praise on Shapiro during a Monday news conference celebrating the budget’s new Working Pennsylvanians tax credit. “I am grateful that here in Harrisburg we have a hero among us for working families, and his name is Josh Shapiro.”
State Rep. Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) is on the rostrum in the House chamber on Jan. 7 after she was reelected speaker of the House despite an initial 101-101 tie vote along party lines.
State Sen. Nikil Saval, a progressive lawmaker who represents part of Philadelphia, was one of a handful of Democrats to vote against the bipartisan Pennsylvania budgetbill that was largely lauded by Democrats and Republicans in Harrisburg and beyond. Saval applauded the school funding, anti-violence grant funding, and childcare support but slammed the absence of transit funding and Democrats’ agreement to end their pursuit to join a key climate program.
“Unfortunately, it comes at this tremendous cost,” he said.And ultimately, Saval said, the finished product didn’t seem to justify the time it took to get there.
Gov. Josh Shapiro visits SEPTA headquarters on Aug. 10 to discuss funding for the transit agency. To his right, from left, are state Democratic legislators Sen. Anthony H. Williams; Sen. Nikil Saval; Rep. Ed Neilson; and Rep. Jordan Harris.
It was not just transit funding that took a back seat to get the budget deal over the line. To thedelight of Republicans — and the chagrin of some progressive Democrats and the climate-conscious — the deal also pulled the state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cooperative among states to reduce carbon emissions.
“For years, the Republicans who have led the Senate have used RGGI as an excuse to stall substantive conversations about energy,” Shapiro said. “Today, that excuse is gone.”
The powerful Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council had lobbied heavily for lawmakers to walk away from the initiative, and it was a top win for state Republicans, who have long said the state should not join the multistate cap-and-trade emissions program they see as hamstringing Pennsylvania’s energy industry from accessing the state’s plentiful natural resources.
‘Two-a-days’
Shapiro said he spent months “running back and forth” to broker a deal between Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) and House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery). The three met on-and-off in private talks, attempting to hammer out a compromise between the Democratic House and Republican-controlled Senate. But the week of Oct. 27, more than four months into the stalemate, Shapiro said a “breakthrough” finally came when he broadened the talks to include McClinton and Ward.
Minority leaders Rep. Jesse Topper (R., Bedford) and Sen. Jay Costa (D., Allegheny) also joined the group, as it became clear that neither of the tightly controlled chambers would have the votes needed to pass a final budget deal.
The group met twice daily in a conference room in Shapiro’s office. Shapiro, always a fan of the sports metaphor, called the meetings “two-a-days.”
“We would come in the morning, go over the issues. We’d have our homework for a few hours, then come back in the afternoon and talk about, you know, the progress that we made,” Shapiro said. Coming out of that week, the governor said, leaders “had a clear direction on where we were going to go.”
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis and Gov. Josh Shapiro show a budget document moments after it was signed Nov. 12 while surrounded by legislators at the state Capitol. A deal struck Nov. 12 ended a budget delay that lasted more than four months.
At the negotiating table, Shapiro served as “referee and facilitator” between House Democrats and Senate Republicans, McClinton said in an interview Monday.
“The man is nothing if not dogged and determined,” Bradford said of Shapiro last week.
Two officials in the closed-door talks said Topper’s presence, as the House minority leader who understands House Democrats and Senate Republicans, helped change the dynamic and got leaders on track toward a deal. Other officials in negotiations noted that once the state’s two top leaders — McClinton and Ward, who are both the first women to serve in their roles — the breakthrough deal swiftly came together.
Topper, for his part, didn’t try to take credit for striking the final budget deal, calling himself “a neutral arbiter” and “someone all sides can trust to have an honest dialogue.”
There were other signs of tensions easing as the legislators worked through the fall. Ward, a top critic of Shapiro since he reneged on a promise he made over school vouchers during his first budget negotiations, joined the conversations. The two had not met in person since 2023, and had barely communicated. Suddenly, they were sitting across from one another.
Kim Ward, president pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate, talks with her chief of staff Rob Ritson in her office Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, before heading out to preside over the swearing-in of Lt. Gov. Austin Davis in the Senate chambers.
Ward said her criticisms of Shapiro still stand — she wants him to be more transparent, among other disagreements. But she described the conversations as “very cordial, very professional.” And there were moments of levity that helped, said the top Republican leader in the Senate, who is known for her wry humor.
“He did leave me a sugar sprinkle heart [cookie] one day at my seat, and I told him, ‘You know, I’m too old for you, and we’re both married,’” she joked.
“I can’t understand why all these legislators think they did a great job,” she said on The Conservative Voice radio program, breaking with GOP leaders, like Ward and Pittman, who lauded the deal. “… Next year, they’re going to have to dip into the Rainy Day Fund to plug a budget, and then taxes are going to go up.”
Because of how long this budget took to finalize, Shapiro will already need to introduce his next budget in just three months, and in proximity to the 2026 midterms and Pennsylvania governor’s election. But it’s unclear whether those negotiations will be as fraught, given budgets tend to get resolved faster in election years with both parties eager to focus on the campaign trail.
“In this day and age, I would not downplay the fact that there was compromise,” said Berwood Yost, a pollster with Franklin and Marshall College. “People want their problems solved. They want politicians to do things that help their everyday lives and that, for most people, means some kind of compromise. Getting this problem solved fits with his narrative.”
Galko, the GOP consultant, looked further ahead to a potential 2028 presidential election. The budget impasse, he said, could provide material for Democratic rivals on the national stage. The possible field is filled with other governors, several from blue states, like Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, where in-state dealmaking is easier among a uniform legislature.
“If he’s unable to negotiate with the Pennsylvania Senate, what’s he gonna do when he goes up against China or Russia?” Galko asked, previewing the possible attack.
Ultimately, history suggests Shapiro’s political success is likely to hinge less on the nuts and bolts of a budget only some Pennsylvanians — and even fewer outside Pennsylvania — are familiar with, and more on his ability to bolster his image as a bipartisan governor in a purple state.
On Friday morning in South Philadelphia, Shapiro sported a bomber jacket while posing for selfies with Eagles fans, nodding along to a rock band’s cover of “Santeria” in a tent outside the Xfinity Mobile Arena at an event hosted by radio station WMMR.
Casually, almost as a throwaway line, Shapiro mentioned to radio hosts Preston and Steve during an interview that he planned to bring Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — a fellow swing-state governor seen, too, as a possible 2028 Democratic contender — as his guest to the Eagles-Lions game at the Linc that Sunday.
“She actually said, ‘Is it OK if I wear Lions stuff?’” Shapiro told the kelly green-clad crowd in Philadelphia, riffing on the friendly football rivalry — the undercurrents of national politics left unspoken. “And I’m like, ‘No problem. You’re on your own in the parking lot. I can’t protect you.’”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer joined Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro at Sunday’s game between the Eagles and Detroit Lions at Lincoln Financial Field.
The event was a food drive but also served as a tribute to the station’s beloved late host, Pierre Robert. Shapiro brought along a commendation from the governor’s office for the occasion.
“He created community, created joy, brought people together,” Shapiro said of Robert. “You think about just how divided we are as a world, there’s a few things that still bring us together, right?”
“By the way, I’ve learned those lessons. That’s what I try and do governing with a, you know, divided legislature.”
Music and sports, the governor mused before the crowd of Philadelphia fans, are two things that bridge the gap. “Go Birds,” he added with a grin.
Staff writer Katie Bernard contributed to this article.
Fetterman has not announced whether he will run for reelection in 2028, but the progressive party put out a public declaration Tuesday pledging to endorse — and, if necessary, recruit and train — a challenger.
The announcement, first reported by The Inquirer, is a remarkable step for the left-leaning organization to take more than two years before an election and speaks to the degree of frustration with Fetterman among progressives.
“At a time when Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are doing everything they can to make life harder for working people, we need real leaders in the Senate who are willing to fight for the working class,” Shoshanna Israel, Mid-Atlantic political director for the Working Families Party, said in a statement.
“Senator Fetterman has sold us out, and that’s why the Pennsylvania Working Families Party is committed to recruiting and supporting a primary challenge to him in 2028.”
Fetterman did not immediately return a request for comment about the Working Families Party’s announcement.
The Working Families Party is a progressive, grassroots political party that is independent from the Democratic Party, but it often endorses and supports Democratic candidates.
Though he supports extending federal healthcare subsidies, Fetterman has long said he is against government shutdowns as a negotiating tactic and will always vote to get federal coffers flowing and federal employees paid.
“I’m sorry to our military, SNAP recipients, gov workers, and Capitol Police who haven’t been paid in weeks,” Fetterman said in a post on X after the vote. “It should’ve never come to this. This was a failure.”
Already one of the most well-known and scrutinized senators in Washington, Fetterman was back in the spotlight this week as he returns to work following a hospitalization after a fall near his home in Braddock. His staff said he suffered a “ventricular fibrillation flare-up” and hit his face, sustaining “minor injuries.”
Ventricular fibrillation is the most severe form of arrhythmia — an abnormal heart rhythm — and the most common cause of sudden cardiac death.
He spent Thursday and Friday in the hospital and was released Saturday, saying he was feeling good and grateful for his care with plans to be back in the Senate this week.
Working Families on the offensive
Israel said in addition to the online portal, the party will hold a number of recruitment events across Pennsylvania in the coming months to train candidates and campaign staff on the basics of running for office and managing a campaign with hopes of finding quality candidates for a variety of races ahead of 2028.
The party is also pledging a robust ground game and fundraising for a potential challenger it supports.
It wouldn’t be the first time the Working Families Party has opposed Fetterman. In the 2022 Democratic Senate primary, WFP endorsed State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D., Philadelphia) over Fetterman, who was lieutenant governor at the time.
The book makes no mention of a reelection bid but laments the ugly politics he experienced in both the Democratic primary and his general election race against Mehmet Oz.
Fetterman said in the book that Oz’s attacks during his rehabilitation from his stroke became so mentally crushing he felt he should have quit the race.
And he grapples with criticism he faced during the primary surrounding a 2013 incident in which he wielded a shotgun and apprehended a Black jogger he suspected of a shooting. Fetterman calls the backlash an early trigger of his depression.
Fetterman has said he will remain a Democrat even as Republicans have lauded his independent streak and willingness to work with the GOP.
Earlier this year, Fetterman was the first Senate Democrat to support the Laken Riley Act, a Republican immigration bill that requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain and take into custody individuals who have been charged with theft-related offenses, even without a conviction. Critics of the law say it severely cracks down on due process for immigrants.
Fetterman was the sole Senate Democrat to vote to confirm Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was one of Trump’s attorneys when he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
“He has repeatedly shown disregard for the rights of Palestinians,” the Working Families Party release said. “Refusing to support a two-state solution and breaking with the rest of the Democratic caucus on Israel’s illegal annexation of the West Bank.”
Staff writer Aliya Schneider contributed to this article.
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department engaged in a “disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps” in the process of securing an indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, a federal judge ruled Monday in directing prosecutors to provide defense lawyers with all grand jury materials from the case.
Those problems, wrote Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick, include “fundamental misstatements of the law” by a prosecutor to the grand jury that indicted Comey in September, the use of potentially privileged communications during the investigation and unexplained irregularities in the transcript of the grand jury proceedings.
“The Court recognizes that the relief sought by the defense is rarely granted,” Fitzpatrick wrote “However, the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.”
The 24-page opinion is the most blistering assessment yet by a judge of the Justice Department’s actions leading up to the Comey indictment. It underscores how procedural missteps and prosecutorial inexperience have combined to imperil the prosecution pushed by President Donald Trump for reasons separate and apart from the substance of the disputed allegations against Comey.
A different judge is set to decide by Thanksgiving on the challenges by Comey and James to Halligan’s appointment.
Though grand jury proceedings are presumptively secret, Comey’s lawyers had sought records from the process out of concern that irregularities may have tainted the case. The sole prosecutor who defense lawyers say presented the case to the grand jury was Halligan, a former White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience who was appointed just days before the indictment to the job of interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
In his order Monday, Fitzpatrick said that after reviewing the grand jury transcript himself, he had come away deeply concerned about the integrity of the case.
“Here, the procedural and substantive irregularities that occurred before the grand jury, and the manner in which evidence presented to the grand jury was collected and used, may rise to the level of government misconduct resulting in prejudice to Mr. Comey,” Fitzpatrick said.
The Justice Department responded to the ruling by asking that it be put on hold to give prosecutors time to file objections. The government said it believed Fitzpatrick “may have misinterpreted” some facts in issuing his ruling.
Fitzpatrick listed, among nearly a dozen irregularities in his ruling, two different comments that a prosecutor — presumably, Halligan — made to the grand jury that he said represented “fundamental misstatements of the law.”
The actual statements are blacked out, but Fitzpatrick said the prosecutor seems to have ignored the fact that a grand jury may not draw a negative inference about a person who exercises his right not to testify in front of it. He said she also appeared to suggest to grand jurors that they did not need to rely only on what was presented to them and could instead before assured that there was additional evidence that would be presented at trial.
The judge also drew attention to the jumbled manner in which the indictment was obtained and indicated that a transcript and recording of the proceedings do not provide a full account of what occurred. Halligan initially sought a three-count indictment of Comey, but after the grand jury rejected one of the three proposed counts and found probable cause to indict on the other two counts, a second two-count indictment was prepared and signed.
But Fitzpatrick said it was not clear to him in reviewing the record that the indictment that Halligan presented in court at the conclusion of the process had been presented to the grand jury for their deliberation.
“Either way, this unusual series of events, still not fully explained by the prosecutor’s declaration, calls into question the presumption of regularity generally associated with grand jury proceedings, and provides another genuine issue the defense may raise to challenge the manner in which the government obtained the indictment,” he wrote.
The two-count indictment charges Comey with lying to Congress in September 2020 when he suggested under questioning that he had not authorized FBI leaks of information to the news media. His lawyers say the question he was responding to was vague and confusing but the answer he gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee was true.
The line of questioning from Sen. Ted Cruz appeared to focus on whether Comey had authorized his former deputy director, Andrew McCabe, to speak with the news media. But since the indictment, prosecutors have made clear that their indictment centers on allegations that Comey permitted a separate person — a close friend and Columbia University law professor, Dan Richman — to serve as an anonymous source in interactions with reporters.
The FBI executed search warrants in 2019 and 2020 to access messages between Richman and Comey as part of a media leaks investigation that did not result in charges. But Fitzpatrick said he was concerned that communications between the men that might have been protected by attorney-client privilege — Richman was at one point functioning as a lawyer for Comey — were exposed to the grand jury without Comey having had an opportunity to object.
The Chester County Board of Elections rejected Republican challenges to provisional ballots Monday as the board prepares to launch an investigation into a poll book error that forced thousands of independent and third-party voters to cast provisional ballots during this month’s election.
In a nearly six-hour meeting, the Democratic-led board heard from dozens of voters and poll workers who described the chaos they endured on Nov. 4 during the high-turnout municipal election. The election resulted in more than 12,000 provisional ballots being cast primarily by independent and third-party voters blocked from voting on machines — an unusually high amount.
The election board, which is made up of the county’s commissioners, voted to count the vast majority of the provisional ballots, arguing that the county’s mistake allowed the board to accept ballots that would be rejected under normal circumstances.
“People’s ballots deserve to be counted in this circumstance,” said Josh Maxwell, a Democrat who chairs the three-member board. “If we make a mistake, we have to remedy it.”
The error was caused when officials mistakenly sent poll books to precincts that did not include the names of independent and third-party voters. Until supplemental poll books were provided to precincts late in the day, those voters were asked to cast a provisional ballot.
Provisional ballots are cast when voters are unable to vote by machine on Election Day, most often because they already requested a mail ballot or are at the wrong polling place.
The ballots require an additional level of review before they are counted. Provisional ballots are often more likely to be rejected than mail ballots or ballots cast on voting machines in person because voters are less familiar with the voting method and are required to place ballots in a secrecy envelope and sign in two places.
The Chester County Republican Committee objected to the counting of more than 1,000 ballots ahead of Monday’s meeting. That number whittled down as the committee withdrew objections to ballots where the error was likely caused by election workers. But the GOP committee’s attorney argued that it would be illegal to count ballots missing the first required voter signature or a secrecy envelope.
By allowing the votes to count, she argued, the board was setting a dangerous precedent.
“These votes are not going to change the outcome of elections, but what they do is they change the way the law is interpreted. They give someone the ability to bypass the safeguards that are in the law,” said Dolores Troiani, an attorney for the county GOP.
In response, the letter said, county officials should not certify the November election.
Democratic officials rejected all the GOP challenges.
“We should not, especially when it is of no fault of their own, be disenfranchising voters,” said Democratic Commissioner Marian Moskowitz.
Republican Commissioner Eric Roe voted against counting the ballots, arguing that there was no legal basis to do so.
“If the legislaturewanted to make exceptions, it should have and would have said so,” Roe said. “I will be relying on what the law says and not what I wish it says.”
Voters on Monday voiced frustration and confusion at having learned their ballot, which they were told would count, would be rejected for an error they were not aware of at the polling place. Several were angry that the county GOP asked for eligible voters’ ballots to be rejected.
Edith Jones, a poll worker, approached the podium nearly in tears Monday to tell commissioners that she worried she’d caused more than a dozen voters to have their ballots thrown out. As the day began, she said, she directed voters to fill out their provisional ballots but forgot to provide them with the required secrecy envelope.
“I gave them instructions, but when somebody in authority tells you what to do, who’s going to read all those words on the paper?” Jones said.
Throughout testimony, voters and the Republican Partyquestioned how the error could occur and demanded remedy moving forward.
“We have no guarantee they’ll fix it,” Troiani said in an interview after the meeting. However, the attorney said the party would not appeal the board’s decisions.
Last week, the county announced plans to hire an outside firm to investigate the poll book error.
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
Sen. John Fetterman is back to work after recovering from a fall that required hospitalization.
Fetterman (D., Pa.) was hospitalized last week following a fall after he experienced a heart issue, an unnamed spokesperson announced Thursday. On Saturday, Fetterman shared a selfie after being released from the hospital with a coffee in hand.
Come Monday he was back in the public eye, appearing at an event hosted by the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA)in Washington. His presence sent the message that he’s back in commission.
Photos posted by attendees on social media show the senatorwearing his signature hoodie and shorts.
His face is still healing from the fall after what he described in his Saturday post as “20 stitches later and a full recovery.”
“See you back in DC,” he said on X.
20 stitches later and a full recovery, I’m back home with @giselefetterman and the kids.
I’m overwhelmed + profoundly grateful for all the well-wishes.
Truly.
Grateful for @UPMC for the incredible medical care that put me back together.
Fetterman’s Monday appearance was part of the JFNA’s General Assembly — which began on Sunday and will continue through Tuesday. The three-day event is described on the group’s website as a gathering for Jewish community leaders, professionals, philanthropists, and community partners to “address pressing issues, explore best practices, and cultivate innovative solutions.”
Fetterman sat on stage during a session called “Monday Morning Plenary: Protecting Our Communities Today.” It was advertised as giving attendees the opportunity to “hear from leaders on the front lines who are building stronger systems of protection and trust.”
Other guests listed alongside Fetterman for the morning program included Annie Sandler, president of the Joint Distribution Committee; the Rev. Juan Rivera, president of the Hispanic Israel Leadership Coalition; Zibby Owens, founder of Zibby Media; and Olivia Reingold, staff writer at the Free Press. The Free Press is a center-right outlet that Fetterman had provided an exclusive excerpt of his book to ahead of its release.
Steven Schimmel, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Central Massachusetts, said in a post on X that Fetterman shared on the JNFA stage that his wife Gisele’s free store “has been vandalized by anti-Israel activists.”
His unnamed spokesperson had said his fall last week was due to a ventricular fibrillation “flare-up.” Ventricular fibrillation is a life-threatening heart issue. The incident comes after the senator suffered a near-fatal stroke in 2022.
The medical incident came just two days after he released his new memoir, Unfettered, in which he discusses his recovery from the stroke and his battle with depression that followed.
Across the Philadelphia suburbs, county leaders are tightening their budgets, and looking toward potential tax increases.
Counties are required by law to complete their budget for next year by Dec. 31. But they entered this year’s budget season facing uncertainty withfederal funding and a lack of clarity over state dollars as lawmakers remained locked in a monthslong budget impasse that ended only Wednesday when the Pennsylvania General Assembly and Gov. Josh Shapiro approved a $50.1 billion budget.
“We were preparing for more needs and less money,” said Josh Maxwell, a Democrat who chairs the Chester County Board of Commissioners. And even as Washington and Harrisburg resolved their budget woes this week, they did little to resolve concerns at the county level.
“I don’t think if the General Assembly had sent us a gold-plated demand or invitation to raise property taxes it could have been any clearer,” said Delaware County Council member Christine Ruether, a Democrat.
Counties in Pennsylvania can only increase their revenue by raising property taxes. By failing to provide additional funds for social services, county officials argued, the state had created a situation where counties would immediately or eventually have to raise property taxes.
“The people we serve … all their problems don’t suddenly go away because there’s a lack of funding to address the problem,” said Bob Harvie, a Democrat who chairs the Bucks County Board of Commissioners and is running for Congress.
“It will likely mean that this county will have to consider a tax increase because we need to meet the needs of those people.”
Bucks County has not yet released its proposed budget for 2026. But residents in Montgomery and Delaware Counties are likely facing tax increases.
Delaware County’s executive director Barbara O’Malley told the all-Democratic council last week that the county would need to increase property taxes 19% to eliminate the county’s structural deficit. A healthy financial setting, she argued, was especially important as state and federal funding streams have become less reliable.
Both budgets were crafted before the state budget was released but county officials said they wrote the documents assuming stagnant funding from the state despite inflation.
“We kept it status quo,” said Dean Dortone, Montgomery County’s chief financial officer.
Chester County officials said they’ve taken a similar approach. The county, Maxwell said, had also lookedfor budget cuts throughout the year as federal grant cancellations created uncertainty.
“We’ve been cutting all year because we know that the federal and state governments are going to be flat or less funding,” Maxwell said, but if the state continues to leave funding flat for social services it will eventually have an impact.
“Over time it’s going to mean property taxes are … going to go up more than they would have otherwise.”
Meanwhile, counties have spent the last several months backfilling for state funds that didnot come during the impasse.
In Montgomery County, officials estimated the county had spent between $40 and $50 million from budget reserves to maintain services. Chester County officials estimated the county spent $40 million, while Delaware County officials reported spending $12 million monthly until October when the county was forced to reduce payments to social services providers.
Counties expect to be reimbursedby the state for those expenses, but it’s unclear how quickly those payments will come.
Delaware County declared a state of emergency Wednesday allowing them to more quickly distribute funds to local food pantries while the organizations wait for state and federal dollars to come through.
“It’s going to take a while for the money to trickle down and in the meantime if somebody can’t get food on the table it’s an issue,” Reuther said during the county’s board meeting.
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
HARRISBURG — The contentious — and, at times, bitter — Pennsylvania budget stalemate has finally ended.
Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the nearly $50.1 billion state budget Wednesday, as part of a breakthrough bipartisan deal that ends a key climate initiative and increases public school funding. Schools, counties, and social service providers will soon receive four months of withheld state payments, lapsed after the budget deadline passed at the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, providing the much-needed relief that some say will come too late.
The long-awaited budget deal involving Shapiro, House Democrats, and Senate Republicans marks the first time Pennsylvania’s state budget has topped $50 billion. State spending and revenue earnings have skyrocketed in the post-COVID-19 years due to federal cash infusions. The budget is a 4.7% increase in spending over the prior fiscal year and includes no new tax increases. Lawmakers and Shapiro agreed to tap into underutilized special funds and use the state’s surplus to address a budget shortfall, as Pennsylvania is on track to spend more than it brings in this fiscal year and in the future.
Democrats (left) stand to applaud a tax cut proposal while Republicans (right) remain seated as Gov. Josh Shapiro delivers his third budget address to a joint session in the House chambers at the State Capitol Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. Shapiro, a Democrat, will need to negotiate with a split legislature.
Both Republican and Democratic leaders celebrated the budget’s passage as a “true compromise,” noting that neither party got everything it wanted in the final deal. The spending plan includes significant energy and permitting changes cheered by Republicans and an earned-income tax credit and revisions to cyber charter funding long sought by Democrats, among other policy wins revealed Wednesday.
“Today is a good day,” Shapiro said, opening his remarks before signing the budget bills into law in the Capitol building, flanked by Democratic lawmakers.
“I would have loved to have stood here in this room with all of you on June 30, but as you know, Pennsylvania is just one of only three states in the country with a divided legislature,” Shapiro, a Democrat, said. “It requires all of us to compromise, to have tough conversations, and, ultimately, to find common ground.”
Several leaders said the budget deal approved Wednesday would not have been possible months ago, as debate had devolved into partisan finger-pointing over who was responsible for the budget deadlock and who might benefit politically from it.
Big GOP win: An end for RGGI
Among the top wins for Senate Republicans is the end of the state’s efforts to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf entered without legislative approval in 2019 and has been tied up in litigation ever since. The program has drawn the ire of Republicans, and in floor remarks Wednesday, House Minority Leader Jesse Topper (R., Bedford) called it the “No. 1 issue holding Pennsylvania back from economic growth.” The 12-state program, known as RGGI, is an interstate cap-and-trade initiative that charges power plants for the amount of carbon emissions they release into the air.
House Minority Leader Jesse Topper (R., Bedford) speaks on Jan. 7, 2025, on the first day of the 2025-2026 legislative session.
Ahead of a final budget deal, some Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups spoke out against ending Pennsylvania’s involvement in RGGI as a threat to the environment. In the end, most Democratic lawmakers voted in favor of the omnibus budget bill that ended the state’s pursuit to join the initiative.
House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery), a top negotiator of the budget deal, told The Inquirer on Wednesday that Democrats’ agreement to leave RGGI was part of a broader compromise to end the impasse.
“I’m one who believes there should be a price on carbon, but I recognize the reality of the situation and compromise is required,” Bradford added.
House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery) speaks on the first day of the 2025-2026 legislative session.
Shapiro and Democratic leaders were able to persuade Republicans, in turn, to spend more than they had wanted to this fiscal year. That additional spending allowed Democrats to invest more in public education, a new earned-income tax credit targeted toward working Pennsylvanians, and more.
“It’s much more money than we want to spend, and it took a lot longer than we wanted, but I think it was worth the wait,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R., Westmoreland) in floor remarks Wednesday. “I am actually excited to vote for this budget.”
Dems win new funding for schools, but not mass transit
The budget deal includes more than $665 million in new funding for public schools, approximately $562 million of which would be funneled through the state’s adequacy and tax equity formulas as part of an effort to close what experts call a $4 billion “adequacy gap.“ These formulas were created last year in response to a 2023 court ruling that found Pennsylvania’s public education funding system unconstitutionally deprives students from poorer districts of an adequate and equitable education.
Senate Minority Appropriations Chair Vince Hughes (D., Philadelphia) applauded the budget agreement for its investments in public school funding, gun violence prevention, and the student-teacher stipend, among other things.
“This budget has good work in it that helps address … the issue of affordability, which sang loud and clear in the most recent election as a predominant issue that Pennsylvanians want us to address,” Hughes said on the Senate floor Wednesday.
In addition, the budget includes changes long sought by Democrats to how Pennsylvania funds and oversees its cyber charter schools. Cyber charter school leaders warned that the changes might lead to closures and mass layoffs for the virtual schools, which often serve the state’s most vulnerable populations, but they were resoundingly celebrated by Democrats and public education experts.
“We finally reformed our cyber charter school system,” Shapiro said to boisterous applause. “If a parent wants to send their child to a cyber school, that’s fine. That’s their prerogative. But we shouldn’t be overfunding them at the expense of Pennsylvania’s public schools.”
The deal, however, does not include any additional funding for mass transit, another major Democratic priority. Democrats removed mass transit from the budget negotiation table in September, after a lawsuit required SEPTA to undo its service cuts and Senate Republicans appeared unwilling to make a long-term investment in mass transit. Instead, Shapiro approved SEPTA’s use of its capital funds to help fill the budget deficit of the state’s largest mass transit agency for the next two years.
Bradford told reporters thatsecuring a long-term revenue stream for transit agencies remains a top priority for his caucus in future budgets.
Inflamed, in part, by the mass transit debate, negotiations over the budget had been stalled for months until the end of October, when Shapiro convened top legislative leaders to return to talks. The renewed budget negotiations included House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) and Ward, who are the highest-ranking officials in their respective chambers but had usually stayed out of the budget talks led by Bradford and Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana).
Counties are still hurting from the late budget
Unlike the federal government, Pennsylvania’s state government does not entirely shut down when a budget has not been approved. Lawmakers and state employees continued to be paid throughout the 135-day impasse. But the late budget had significant impacts on school districts, counties, and social service providers — all of which are awaiting billions in expected state payments that should begin flowing again soon.
The lack of state funding has required schools, counties, and service providers to cut jobs, take out expensive loans, or stop services altogether.
Over the course of the more than four-month impasse, Pennsylvania’s counties spent millions to make up for the loss of state dollars. In Montgomery County, officials estimated the county had spent between $40 million and $50 million from budget reserves to maintain services. Chester County officials estimated they spent $40 million in reserves, while Delaware County officials spent $12 million each month until October, when they had to reduce payments on some of their bills in the absence of state funding. Counties expect to be reimbursed for those expenses, but it is unclear when the reimbursements will come.
“Counties are at the breaking point, financially speaking,” said Kyle Kopko, the executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. If reimbursements are not delivered swiftly, Kopko added, it could force additional nonprofits that provide social services to shutter.
Even as county leaders were grateful for an end to the impasse, some expressed frustration over the contents of the final budget deal. The agreement, Kopko said, included a 2% cut to mental health services statewide, though he said the cut likely would not affect payments to counties. And it left other funds counties rely on to pay their bills — like 911 fees — stagnant, despite inflation.
Counties in Pennsylvania can increase their revenue only by raising property taxes. By failing to provide additional funds for social services, county officials argued Wednesday, lawmakers had created a situation in which counties would immediately or eventually have to raise property taxes.
The combination of the cuts and the failure to increase funds for public transit and other needs, Delaware County Councilmember Christine Reuther said, meantthe state had essentially passed the buck to the counties.
“They’re not solving problems. They’re not saving people from tax increases,” she said. “They’re just making somebody else do their dirty work.”
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
Delaware County’s executive director is asking the all-Democratic Council to raise property taxes 19% — just days after an election centered on the county’s double-digit increase this year.
Barbara O’Malley, the county’s executive director, delivered a draft budget to council members Friday. The $340 million budget increases overall county spending by just under 6% and calls for a 19% property tax increase to ensure the county can fund all operating expenses without relying on onetime funding sources.
The increase would translate to an additional $185 annually for the average Delaware County homeowner, a spokesperson for the county said. That is the same dollar amount of this year’s increase.
“This revenue enhancement is required to close the gap and maintain our reserves at the minimum standards,” O’Malley said in her memo. “We recognize these are challenging economic times for our residents and do not make a tax enhancement recommendation lightly.”
Tax increases in future years, O’Malley said, should be minimal if the council agrees to the 19% hike.
The Delaware County Council will introduce its own budget on Dec. 3 and vote on a budget on Dec. 10. Members of the all-Democratic five-member council could reject all or parts of the executive director’s recommendations.
On Monday, the county’s budget task force, formed to allow citizen input following the latest tax increase, will present to the board.
Council Vice Chair Richard Womack said he hoped the final budget could have a smaller tax increase than 19% and would review the task force’s proposals while seeking ways to cut spending.
“The last tax increase I voted no because I felt like we did not do a significant dive to really see where we can actually make some cuts,” Womack said. “We’re doing everything possible to make sure we don’t have that type of budget tax increase again.”
County officials released the 369-page draft budget just days after voters overwhelmingly voted to reelect Womack and elect County Controller Joanne Phillips to the council Tuesday, retaining unanimous Democratic control of the board, which the party has controlled since the 2019 election.
Michael Straw, chair of the Media Borough Republican Committee, called the potential hike “unfair” to residents and criticized the county for not releasing the draft budget earlier.
“Voters, in my opinion, deserved the right to know whether their taxes were going up and spending was going to be increased, and I think that would have changed some more individuals’ minds,” Straw said.
Democrats argue the tax increases have been a necessary response to decades of underinvestment under Republicans. When Democrats took office in 2020, they say the county was facing challenges because prior leadership had gone toolong without raising taxes and had underinvested in county infrastructure and services. Democrats avoided substantially raising taxes in their early years in office, instead relying on COVID-19 relief funds.
But as those funds run out, and as inflation continues, the county is facing structural deficits that officials argue must be solved with tax increases.
“Providing stable funding for mandated services that our residents need and deserve is essential for sound government,” O’Malley said in a memo to council. “This county had minimal revenue enhancements over the last decade, necessitating these increases for the last two years.”
This year’s spending increases, O’Malley said, were due to increased court system costs, employee health benefits, and increases to the county’s SEPTA contribution and employee pay.
The need to ensure the county is financially stable, O’Malley said, was underscored by the state budget impasse, which had forced the county to curtail funding for some services while temporarily footing the bill for state-funded services.
Despite the GOP warnings, voters opted to keep Democrats in office, in some cases calling the tax increases necessary to maintain and improve county services.
“They should go up,” said Chester City voter Nicole Porter, explaining that she supports increases as long as they reinvest in parts of the community that need it most.
“If it costs a little more to get the roads fixed … I’m OK with that,” she said.
Staff writer Nate File contributed to this article.
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
