Emrick: 2026-27 PA State Budget Passes

July 12, 2026

HARRISBURG – Rep. Joe Emrick (R-Upper Nazareth Township) on Sunday voted for a $50.85 billion 2026-27 state budget, noting this budget was balanced without any new or increased broad-based taxes.

“Without increasing taxes, this budget fully funds Gov. Josh Shapiro’s request for our public schools, again funding school districts at record levels,” Emrick said. “This budget boosts PreK-12 education funding by nearly $670 million with increases for such things as the Ready to Learn Block Grant program, basic education and special education.”

As part of that historic level of funding, Bethlehem Area School District will see its funding increase to $82.4 million, Easton Area School District’s total funding will rise to $39.4 million and funding for Nazareth Area School District will increase to $16.6 million.

A vital $775 million for shovel-ready rural road and bridge projects is also part of this budget.

“We’ve all seen the damage to our local roads and bridges caused by the many trucks stemming from warehouses in our communities,” said Emrick, who has worked to put a stop to warehouse development. “This funding will focus on resurfacing roadways and repairing bridges and be a huge benefit to our local infrastructure.”

Another important component of the budget is a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for retired municipal police officers and firefighters, many of whom have not received a COLA in more than 20 years. A COLA will also be given to retired public servants, including teachers, who retired before significant pension changes were implemented in 2001.

“As everyone continues to face increases in our cost of living, many of our retirees have been living on fixed incomes for decades,” Emrick said. “This increase of their fixed incomes will begin to help alleviate that burden.”

The budget also includes $10 million for career and technical centers to address waitlists for students interested in pursuing career and technical education. Additionally, we maintain full funding for the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs, preserving scholarship opportunities for students in need.


Representative Joe Emrick
137th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives