A Pennsylvania group that advocates for public education says it is “deeply disappointed and concerned” by Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed funding support for state-owned universities in his first proposed state budget.

Shapiro’s 2% increase includes neither the funding that system leaders sought to freeze tuition for a fifth straight year across the 85,000-student system, nor does it include a $112 million special request to support students pursuing careers in high-demand fields.

The initiative from state system leaders included $56.5 million to reduce tuition costs for education majors at a time when Pennsylvania is struggling to fill K-12 teaching spots.

Susan Spicka, executive director of Education Voters of Pennsylvania, said in a statement that Shapiro’s proposed $44.4 billion spending plan has an “appalling neglect of funding for higher education” and leaves Pennsylvania college graduates with the nation’s third-highest student debt.”

“If we hope to have a strong economy in the commonwealth, we need a robust investment in public higher education so that young people can afford to attend our high-quality public universities,” Spicka said. “And if we hope to address our looming teacher shortage, college students need to be able to get a teaching degree without having to take on a mountain of debt that they will struggle to ever dig out from under.”

Shapiro’s office did not immediately respond to a message left Wednesday.

The state system has frozen yearly in-state tuition at $7,716 since the 2019-2020 academic year as part of a broader effort to reduce student prices and reverse enrollment losses.

Its leaders proposed enough in scholarships to reduce by $1,500 the yearly tuition paid by the system’s 17,400 education majors and an additional $5,000 in tuition relief for high-need students. Smaller scholarship funding amounts were proposed for business, nursing, computer science, social services and engineering majors.

The 10 state system universities include the Western Pennsylvania campuses of PennWest University (California, Clarion and Edinboro), as well as Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Slippery Rock University.

State system tuition is less than half that of state-related universities including the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State University. Under Shapiro’s plan, those institutions would receive a 7% funding increase.

Shapiro’s proposed budget includes $1 billion in new education funding, including $60 million in additional funding for higher education institutions.

The state system sought $573.5 million, which amounted to a $21 million or 3.8% increase. The governor proposed $563 million in funding.

Spicka argued that Pennsylvania has a $5 billion reserve fund and a $7.8 million budget surplus.

“Harrisburg is flush with cash and in a position to make a substantial down payment toward rectifying its unconstitutional K-12 public school funding system and to put the dream of higher education back within the reach of children from working families,” she said.

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