The measure passed by the House is “a comprehensive plan that will correct inequalities related to cyber charters, but also would inject billions of dollars into Pennsylvania’s chronically underfunded schools, offer property tax relief in communities that have shouldered too much of the burden, and will help us begin to meet our constitutional mandate to adequately and equitably fund public schools,” she added.

Sean Vereen, president of Heights Philadelphia, a nonprofit education advocacy group, described the legislation as a good down payment.

“Ultimately, it goes in the right direction.” Vereen said. “It’s going to put more resources into the hands of schools. There is going to be more work that’s going to have to be done over the next 5–10 years to get this to a place that it needs to be. We should not be at the bottom of the list of states in [education] spending.”

Under the legislation, most school districts in the state will receive more funding.

The bill now goes to the Republican-controlled Senate.

Most Republicans voted against the measure, which passed 107-94. State Rep. Robert Leadbeter, R-Columbia County, and others in his party said they wanted more focus on reforming public schools instead of just increasing funding.

As an indication of how much is at stake for the city, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, City Council President Kenyatta Johnson and several education stakeholders, including Philadelphia School District Superintendent Tony Watlington Sr. and Community College of Philadelphia President Guy Generals, wrote a letter to Shapiro and the General Assembly urging them to fully fund the adequacy gap established by the Basic Education Funding Commission.

“The General Assembly has an opportunity this year to end the system of education that has denied students across the commonwealth, and here in Philadelphia, their fundamental right to an education that prepares them to succeed,” the letter stated.

According to the letter, the city contributes more than $1.8 billion in local taxes to support education.

On the Republican side, legislators in the Senate are reviving voucher legislation, known as the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success program (PASS) that would provide $100 million of taxpayer money for private school tuition for students in the state’s lowest performing public schools.

Last year, Shapiro, who supports PASS, vetoed the legislation to break a stalemate in the previous budget session, when Democrats in the House refused to fold.

Critics include the Philadelphia School District and the PFT, who say PASS would siphon money from an already underfunded public school system. Most Democrats, other than state Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, also oppose PASS.

Despite the opposition, hip-hop mogul Jay-Z is funding information sessions in Philadelphia supporting the PASS program, which has been championed by billionaire Jeff Yass, a major Republican political contributor, who has spent millions of dollars promoting it.

Planned Parenthood PA Advocates executive director Signe Espinoza called the proposal “an enormous shift toward control over our bodies.”

“We must have control over if and when we decide to start our families, but Pennsylvania has for too long allowed loopholes, exemptions and oversights to stand between us and our autonomy,” Espinoza said in a statement.

Rep. Krueger said in an interview Monday that she also was concerned about Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion in the U.S. Supreme Court decision on abortion access two years ago. Thomas wrote that the Supreme Court “should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents,” including cases that found married people have the right to obtain contraceptives, people can engage in private, consensual sex acts and the right to same-sex marriage.

A state law could help people obtain contraceptives if federal law changes, Krueger said.

“We have seen that access to reproductive health care, including contraception, is coming down to a state’s rights issue,” Krueger said.

In other states, contraception has been a politically contentious issue. A review earlier this month by the Guttmacher Institute, which advocates for abortion access, found several states have proposed or enacted laws to reduce access to contraception this year.

KFF, a nonprofit that studies health care issues, said in May that 14 states have legal or constitutional protections for the right to contraception, with six states and Washington, D.C., enacting them since the high court’s decision on abortion in June 2022.

A 26-year-old Pennsylvania woman drowned after being swept over a waterfall on the east side of Glacier National Park in Montana, park officials said.

National Park Service officials on Tuesday identified the victim as Gillian Tones from North Apollo in western Pennsylvania’s Armstrong County. She was remembered as caring and kind, triblive.com reported.

Tones fell into the water above St. Mary Falls at around 5:20 p.m. Sunday. She was washed over the 35-foot (11-meter) tall waterfall and trapped under water for several minutes, the park said in a statement.

Bystanders pulled Tones from the water and administered CPR until emergency responders arrived. She was declared dead at 7 p.m., park officials said.

The death is under investigation, and an autopsy was planned.

Her name was initially withheld until family members could be notified.

Drowning is one of the leading causes of death in Glacier National Park, according to the National Park Service.

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