Months after a Commonwealth Court judge ordered Pennsylvania's legislature and governor to fix an unconstitutional school funding system, the ruling is influencing state budget negotiations now in the homestretch. 

A full fix isn't in the cards for this year's spending plan, but the February court ruling is influencing budget talks, with House Democrats passing an amended budget bill with more education spending and Republicans resisting the underlying rationale (flush state coffers) over future recession fears. 

Read Spotlight PA's full report: Pa. budget 2023: How a landmark school funding lawsuit is shaping negotiations.

THE CONTEXT: The numbers involved are big and highly contested — public education advocates have argued it’ll take at least a few billion dollars in new funding to satisfy the conditions of the ruling, on top of the $7.9 billion Pennsylvania spent on basic education this fiscal year. 

In his initial budget proposal, Gov. Shapiro pitched a roughly billion-dollar increase to education funding over last year, including $567 million more for basic public school education — an 8% bump that outpaces inflation. 

House Democrats, in a 102-101 party-line vote, passed an amended version of Shapiro's plan with roughly $900 million in additional spending, most of it going to schools and related expenses.

State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Armstrong) called the roughly $46 billion House-approved plan "an impossible number," adding that he's unsure the June 30 deadline for a budget deal will be met.

More, via WHYY: What it's like to attend an underfunded Pa. school.

At the Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens in Devon, via David G. Send us your photos by email, use #PAGems on IG, or tag @spotlightpennsylvania.

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BIRD ROUTE: PublicSource explains how a magnolia warbler, after journeying across the Gulf of Mexico and most of the U.S., was equipped with a tiny cuff in the woods of Pittsburgh that could help scientists save local ecosystems along the route. The data gleaned hold critical ecological insights.

STRIKE WATCH: The pro-proletariat People's World, successor to the Daily Worker, says workers at Erie's Wabtec plant, formerly a GE locomotive plant, could strike and set a precedent in the process. Here's what the company is proposing in its "best and final offer," via Erie Times-News.

'MONK CLASS': U Penn professor Justin McDaniel’s wildly popular “monk class," formally called Living Deliberately, requires its 14 students to “observe a code of silence, abstain from using all electronic communications, and limit their spending to $50 a week," CNBC reports.

STAMP SHOW: A postage stamp series on iconic American waterfalls, formally launched yesterday, includes one from Ricketts Glen State Park in Luzerne County. The stamps are for sale online and at post offices.

JUBILEE DAY: The Jubilee Day street fair returns to Mechanicsburg in Cumberland County tomorrow. Organizers say it's the largest and longest-running one-day street fair on the East Coast, per PennLive (paywall).