Keeping the state education budget intact for another year, especially given the desperate financial mess all levels of government are in, was an enlightened act by Gov. Tom Wolf and our state legislators.

Some have tried to minimize the decision since it is an election year when all 203 state House of Representatives seats and half of the state Senate seats are at stake.

But ever the optimist, I would like to think that our legislators know how important education is in the commonwealth, especially now when about three months of face-to-face instruction were seriously compromised because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is time which will be very difficult to make up. The corresponding distance learning instruction, while better than nothing, got off to a slow start in some districts, and in some poorer districts it never truly got off the ground as these districts sought to get the technology into the hands of students. Even then, many homes of poorer students are not wired for the Internet, making the attempt to educate these already at-risk children all the more daunting and frustrating.

Wolf signed a five-month budget totaling $25.75 billion at the end of May, and it will take effect on July 1 and run until the end of the two-year legislative session on Nov. 30. Typically, budgets run for an entire fiscal year, July 1-June 30.

The budget keeps the funding for public schools at their 2019-20 levels, and this includes state-supported universities such as East Stroudsburg, Kutztown and the other 12, debt service and school pensions.

The budget also will help out communities as they go about the business of restoring the economy, which has been decimated by the pandemic. Most communities, counties and school districts expect much lower revenues from unpaid or late paid property taxes, along with lower earned income tax, amusement tax and other tax revenues that make up their annual budgets.

The partial budget includes $2.6 billion in federal funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. About $50 million of that will go to fire departments and ambulance services.

Also included is $625 million to counties through block grants to help deal with the disruption to their budgets from the pandemic. The funding will help counties to buy personal protective equipment, help with other critical local government needs and provide grants to small businesses.

The budget also provides $300 million from the CARES Act to make up for a decline in gaming revenue that annually supports school property tax relief for homeowners.

When Wolf introduced his proposed 2020-21 budget in mid-February, just before the full impact of the pandemic was unfolding, it was $36 billion - about a 6% increase over this year’s budget. He also proposed a modest increase for education funding.

The partial budget prioritizes education just as all of his budgets have since he first took office in 2015. Wolf has served about a year-and-a-half of his second and final four-year term. Pennsylvania governors and other top elected state leaders have term limits.

Although neither Wolf’s February proposal nor the one he just signed calls for any broad-based tax increase, it’s obvious that the state will have to pay the piper not too far down the road.

Just as local tax revenue is falling off the cliff, so, too, are state tax collections, as the two major revenue-producers - the state income and sales taxes - took substantial hits, and state officials know that the big numbers racked up when the economy was sailing along into record territory will not be back anytime soon.

“Education must remain a priority even during a pandemic and this budget provides schools with the stability to continue building on the progress we have made to prepare our children for a successful future,” Wolf said in signing the five-month document. “While this is an encouraging step in the right direction, more needs to be done to ensure Pennsylvania has the resources it needs to protect key programs and investments.”

We all know that there are many unanswered questions about the state’s finances, and it probably will take until the fall to figure out the depth of the damage the pandemic has done to revenues, but at least it helps stabilize our schools, which will be getting back to in-classroom education in late August and early September and begin the state’s slow path to recovery.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com