Two education bills introduced only days ago are moving quickly through the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, drawing sharp disagreement over whether they would bring needed accountability to school-choice programs or undermine funding for students who use them.

House Bill 2632 would overhaul Pennsylvania’s education tax-credit scholarship system beginning in 2027-28, keeping the $680 million cap but changing how the money is allocated. The bill would create a new economically disadvantaged scholarship category, adjust donor incentives and impose new oversight requirements on scholarship organizations.

Supporters describe the measure as an effort to retarget and add accountability to Educational Improvement Tax Credit and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit dollars. Opponents say it would reduce traditional scholarship funding, add bureaucracy, and reshape school-choice tax credits in ways that would discourage participation.

The bill’s prime sponsor, state Rep. Nikki Rivera, D-Lancaster, said EITC programs have grown into a $680 million public investment in nonpublic education in fiscal year 2025-26 — more than four times the $150 million cap in place a decade ago. However, she said findings from the Independent Fiscal Office show that critical data gaps make it impossible to fully evaluate the program’s effectiveness.

“While EITC funding has quadrupled over the last decade, key reporting gaps have left lawmakers and taxpayers unable to assess whether public funds have reached the students and schools they were intended to aid,” Rivera said. “That should concern everyone.”

She said her legislation would close those reporting gaps and ensure greater accountability to ensure scholarships are reaching the intended students.

House Bill 2634 would overhaul Pennsylvania’s charter and cyber charter funding formulas beginning in 2027-28, changing how districts calculate regular and special education tuition payments and excluding more district costs from cyber charter calculations.

Supporters say the bill would modernize charter funding, while opponents contend it would amount to a funding cut to charter and cyber charter schools.

State Rep. Jim Prokopiak, D-Levittown, introduced the measure, saying it would improve the charter school tuition rate formula by using actual school district expenditures and student counts rather than budgeted expenditures and estimated counts.

“Additionally, this bill includes the cyber charter school funding reforms proposed by the governor in his 2026-27 budget,” Prokopiak said. “These reforms include applying the excess spending factor and deducting a greater share of costs, such as facility maintenance, that cyber charter schools do not have because they provide education online.”

Andrew Lewis, president and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation, in an email statement to The Center Square, said the measures would harm school-choice programs, but was especially critical of HB2632.

“House Democrats have passed an education poison pill, preparing to rip away transformative school choice from tens of thousands of students.” Lewis said. “The cuts proposed in this bill are punitive and destructive.

“By reducing available scholarships, restricting student eligibility, burdening schools and scholarship organizations with new mandates, and discouraging donor participation, this proposal would extinguish the success of the EITC and OSTC programs, which have served over 1 million students since its creation.”

Lewis said the vote comes as over 200,000 students finished another school year stuck in a failing school. Scholarship programs are often the only way for struggling, low-income students to access schools that best serve their needs, he said.

“Lawmakers must reject efforts to take educational opportunity away from the Pennsylvania students who need it most. We must protect educational opportunity, not cut it,” he said.

Both bills were introduced on June 12 and advanced within days. To date, the recorded votes have broken along party lines.

HB2632 was reported from the House Education Committee on Tuesday in a 14-12 vote, with Democrats voting in favor and Republicans opposed. It was then re-reported from the House Rules Committee on Wednesday in an 18-15 vote along party lines before receiving second consideration and being recommitted to Appropriations.

HB2634 followed a similar path in the Education Committee. An amendment to the bill was adopted 14-12 on Tuesday and then reported as amended by the same 14-12 vote with Democrats supporting the measure and Republicans opposed. The bill has since been recommitted to Rules.

Democrats have a majority in the House of 102-100 with one vacancy. Republicans have a 27-23 majority in the Senate.