Grants can provide an opportunity to supplement school funding without raising local taxes. In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pension income and Social Security income are exempted from state personal income tax and local earned income tax, regardless of the income level. In 2011, the average Pennsylvania public school teacher pension exceeded $60,000 a year plus they receive federal Social Security benefits: both of which are exempted from both Pennsylvania state income tax and the local school income tax which funds local public schools. Effective 2016, active duty military are also exempted from paying the local earned income tax in Pennsylvania. According to a report from Representative Todd Stephens office, Shamokin Area School District receives 56.6% of its annual district revenue from the state. This exceeds some education advocates goal of the state providing 50% of district funding. In December 2014, the Pennsylvania Education Funding Reform Commission conducted a hearing. The commission developed a new basic education funding formula which sets a new way to distribute state basic education dollars. It abolished the practice of "hold harmless" funding, which gave districts at least the same as they got the previous school year regardless of declining enrollment. The plan became law in June 2016 (House Bill 1552). For the 2017-18 school year, Shamokin Area School District received an increase to $12,442,125 in Basic Education Funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania again increased its public education spending to a record high of $5.995 billion. It was a $100 million increase, 1.7% increase over the 2016-17 state education appropriation. Additionally, the state continued to fund its Ready to Learn grants at $250 million and Special Education funding received a $25 million increase to $1.121 billion. The state also paid $529,5 million to the school employee social security fund and another $2.304 billion to the teacher's pension fund, an increase of 7.6% over the state's 2016-17 payment. The state maintained its $100 million reimbursement to school districts for transportation costs. Governor Wolf had proposed cutting the funding by 50% shifting the costs to local taxpayers. For the 2016-17 school year, Shamokin Area School District received $12,343,184 in Basic Education Funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This was a 2.2% increase over 2015-16 funding to the district. The highest percentage of BEF increase in Northumberland County was 3.3% awarded to Shikellamy School District under the state's Basic Education Funding formula. For the 2016-17 school year, Pennsylvania increased its public education spending to a record high of $5,895 billion.