Good afternoon everyone, 

It’s Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026 and welcome back to another edition of the Keystone Labor Report. 

President Donald Trump is set to deliver his first State of the Union address of his second term later this evening, and everyone is publishing their bingo cards in anticipation of some of the unhinged stuff he may say during his speech. 

And in unrelated news, The Menzingers, who hail from Scranton and now are based out of Philly, released a new single “Nobody’s Hero” in anticipation of a new album later this year. 

You can listen to that new track here.  

(Sean Kitchen / The Keystone)

Lawmakers are in the process of returning to Harrisburg after Gov. Josh Shapiro delivered his fourth budget address to hold three weeks of appropriations hearings examining every aspect of Shapiro’s budget. 

Education advocates from across the commonwealth praised Shapiro’s proposed budget, which includes a $565 million increase in adequacy funding, a $50 million increase for basic education funding, a $50 million increase for special education funding, and a $5 million increase for the student teacher stipend program. 

“ It’s certainly not a status quo budget. The governor proposed $560 million in adequacy, another $100 million in basic ed and special education, another $100 million in facilities. So we’re still talking almost $800 million of new additional education spend layered on top of what we did last year,” State Rep. Peter Schweyer told The Keystone in an interview. 

One of the major items in Shapiro’s proposed education budget is the third $565 million installment of adequacy funding to close education funding gap between poorer and wealthier school districts. 

The Commonwealth Court ruled in 2023 that Pennsylvania failed to meet its constitutional obligation to adequately fund public education and close a multi-billion dollar education budget gap. 

Pennsylvania school districts heavily rely on local property taxes to fund their operating costs and thanks to that, there is a disparity in funding between wealthier suburban districts and rural or urban school districts that can’t necessarily raise their own funds. 

This additional state funding is helping school districts hire more kindergarten teachers and offer full-day kindergarten classes, pay down payments for new school buildings and replace some that are over 100 years old, and bring back art programs that may have been cut in years past.

“ Shippensburg [School District], where I am, we are receiving adequacy funding, and I just talked to my superintendent about it actually. Shippensburg is paying for 12 kindergarten teachers’ salary and benefits with this, and given the budget outlook this is allowing our district to not have to look at having full day kindergarten be on the chopping block,” Susan Spicka, Executive Director of Education Voters of Pennsylvania, told The Keystone. 

(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

If there’s one thing about collective bargaining, it’s that anything is possible and that includes winning goal for USA Hockey. 

I’m sure you’ve all heard by now, but US Men’s Hockey took home the gold medal after defeating Team Canada on Sunday. This was the first time players from the National Hockey League (NHL) were allowed to participate in the winter games since 2014. 

The NHL previously barred players from participating in the 2018 and 2022 games due to payment and injury risks, but in 2025, the NHL Players Association, which represents the players, was able to successfully bargain their way into the games.