Pa School Funding Steering Committee

PASCD is a member of the Pa School Funding Steering Committee. Check here for up to date information regarding this important issue in education.

Update July 7, 2009

Citizens Call on Policymakers to Protect Educational Opportunities for Kids, Even if it Requires a Tax Increase 

Harrisburg (July 7, 2009) –Concerned citizens joined the Pennsylvania School Funding 

Campaign at the state Capitol today to tell legislators that maintaining a commitment to the state’s new education funding formula is non-negotiable with their constituents –even if it requires legislators to increase revenues –and urge legislators to support a balanced approach to the state budget that includes a $418 million increase for basic education. “Without the proper increase in basic education funding, teaching positions will be trimmed, class sizes will increase and the quality of instruction will be sacrificed.  Our children are going to graduate into the most competitive, high-skill economy that any of us have ever known. We need elected officials in Harrisburg to make smart decisions that invest in education –even if it means a state tax increase –so that they can give our children the educational opportunities they deserve and that will prepare them for college and life,” said Anita Weikel of the Pennsylvania PTA. During today’s Budget Watch, citizens called on lawmakers not to cut state funding for Pennsylvania’s public schools, and said the 2009-2010 state budget must include fair and equitable state funding of public education. “No one likes making tough economic decisions, especially in times like these.  But we cannot tell our students that their education is only important when the economy is good,” said Marcela Myers, School Director in the Lower Dauphin School District.  “The money we spend on our students is an investment in the future of our state. We need to protect that investment and make sure it does not lose its value.” “We are here today, tomorrow, and as long as necessary to remind members of the General Assembly of their bi-partisan obligation to honorthe recently initiated six-year education funding plan, fund the second year of the plan with the necessary $418 million increase proposed by Governor Rendell, and keep funding reform on track and on schedule in Pennsylvania,” said Ron Cowell, president of The Education Policy and Leadership Center. “Education is vital to the well-being of our citizens, our community, our economy, our future –we can’t tell kids to put their schooling on hold until it gets easier for the Legislature to make the necessary funding decisions.” The PSFC is a statewide coalition of individuals and organizations representing hundreds of thousands of parents, students, educators, school board members, administrators and other concerned citizens advocating for adequate and equitable funding of Pennsylvania’s public schools.  For more information about the Campaign, see www.paschoolfunding.org. 

Update June 6, 2009

The state Senate's 2009-10 budget bill (Senate Bill 850) takes
Pennsylvania in the wrong direction and abdicates the state's
responsibility to pay for its own public schools.

One year into the Commonwealth's six-year effort to reform school
funding based on the principles of adequate resources for student
learning, equitable distribution of those resources, and predictability
for local tax and spending decisions, the Senate budget walks away from
those reform principles.

The Senate budget reduces state dollars for the basic education subsidy
for the first time in state history, then diverts those state education
dollars to other purposes, and uses federal stimulus funds to fill the
hole caused by the state funding cut. The appropriation of state (not
federal) funds for Basic Education Funding in 2008-09 is $5.226 billion.
That same appropriation in Senate Bill 850 for 2009-10 is $4.497
billion. That reduction of nearly $729 million represents a 16.2 percent
cut.

In a memo to school districts last week, Senate Republican leaders claim
the Governor's proposal to maintain state funding for the subsidy at
$5.226 billion and use federal stimulus funds to provide a $418 million
increase would result in a "funding cliff" when stimulus funding ends.
But that memo fails to mention what will happen when stimulus funding
ends if Senate Bill 850 is adopted. The Legislature would have two
options. It could continue to abdicate its responsibility to fund our
schools, which would result in local property tax increases, school
program cuts, or both. Or it would need to come up with state funds to
restore $729 million in basic education funding just to get back to
2008-09 levels - not to the funding targets for 2011-12.

The Pennsylvania School Funding Campaign, a statewide coalition of
individuals and organizations representing hundreds of thousands of
parents, students, educators, school board members, administrators and
other concerned citizens advocating for adequate and equitable funding
of Pennsylvania's public schools, urges you to */maintain the state's
investment in basic education at the current level and support the use
of $418 million in stimulus funds to provide the increase we need to
achieve the Year 2 funding targets to keep Pennsylvania on track for
real education reform and help prevent local property tax increases and
program cuts in schools. /*

*/ /*

*/Senate Bill 850 abdicates the state's responsibility to fund its
schools and transfers too much of that obligation to short-term federal
funds./* We must not abandon school funding reform only one year after
the General Assembly adopted a new school funding formula directly
linked to promoting student academic success. You moved us in the right
direction with last year's reform */and this would be the wrong time to
turn away from that progress. /*

*/ /*

For more information on the Pennsylvania School Funding Campaign, please
go to www.paschoolfunding.org <http://www.paschoolfunding.org/>.

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