Roae Calls Out Accounting Gimmicks in Final State Budget

July 12, 2026

HARRISBURG — Rep. Brad Roae (R-Crawford/Erie) issued the following statement in response to passage of the Fiscal Year 2026-27 state budget:

“The major education line items in the budget are Basic Education, special education and the Ready to Learn Block Grant. The funding per student in the new budget varies greatly by school district. Erie gets $13,712 per student, but Millcreek only receives $4,324 and Fairview just $3,984. Northwestern gets $10,480 and Girard receives $9,064. I have not reviewed Crawford County school districts yet because it was not until about 7:30 p.m. Saturday we got access to the 673 pages of budget-related bills. It’s ridiculous that the Democrat majority expects legislators to read and understand 673 pages on Saturday evening and vote on the budget-related bills on Sunday.  

“When the 2025-26 budget was passed, it included $267.5 million for the House of Representatives. This budget language retroactively increases last year’s funding to $271.5 million. That is just one of many examples of funding being retroactively increased in last year’s budget to give the appearance of being flat funded or only getting a minor increase this year.   

“The budget is NOT balanced. The budget retroactively defers paying $1.3 billion of medical assistance bills in the 2025-26 budget. It also defers paying another $1.3 billion in the new budget. We are not really preserving the Rainy Day Fund; we are just delaying when we will have to spend it and need a tax increase. Transfers from other dedicated funds that are intended for other things are also being done to mask the true size of the overspending compared to revenue.



“In addition, this budget gives an almost $1.5 billion cost-of-living adjustment for long-term teacher and state worker retirees. The State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) and the Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) pension funds are already underfunded by about $60 billion. This change will cost an additional $146.5 million for 10 years in a row and makes the situation worse.   

“The $50.8 billion in spending is a fake number because it does not include the $2.6 billion we are shoving into future years.”

For more information on 2026-27 state budget, visit pabudget.com.

The 6th Legislative District includes the city of Meadville; Beaver, Conneaut, East Fairfield, East Fallowfield, East Mead, Fairfield, Greenwood, Hayfield, North Shenango, Pine, Randolph, Sadsbury, South Shenango, Spring, Summerhill, Summit, Union, Vernon, Wayne, West Fallowfield, West Mead and West Shenango townships; and Cochranton, Conneaut Lake, Conneautville, Linesville and Springboro boroughs in Crawford County and Conneaut, Elk Creek and Springfield townships and Albion and Cranesville boroughs in Erie County.