Education Advocates Tell Legislators: Don’t Turn Back The Clock On School Funding

Hundreds of citizens from 20 Pennsylvania school districts came from across the state to the State Capitol today to send a message to the General Assembly: don’t turn back the clock on school funding.

Taxpayers, teachers, school support staff workers, administrators and legislators rallied in the Rotunda, calling on the Senate and House of Representatives to continue support for the school funding formula enacted a year ago, designed to help Pennsylvania’s students meet academic standards.

Rich Askey, a teacher in the Harrisburg School District, said, “My colleagues and I teach children who are our hope for tomorrow. We cannot let our hope for tomorrow fail. It is time for the legislature to step up and fund the formula they created."

Legislative negotiations on a state budget are currently stalled, but at least two versions of a spending plan supported by some legislators would turn back the clock to 2005-06 levels of state funding. Contrary to claims of education funding increases, the budget proposal passed by the state Senate and a similar one supported by House Republicans would impose deep and extreme cuts in state funding for public schools and would force school districts to choose between property tax cuts or devastating cuts to classroom programs.

“The state had no problem setting higher academic standards, and that’s fine -- we have no problem with being held to higher standards,” said Charles Wicker, superintendent of the Oswayo Valley School District in Potter County, one of the smallest and poorest districts in the state. “But we do believe they should stand behind their commitment for funding too.”

The General Assembly’s own study in November 2007 found that Pennsylvania public schools were under funded by $4.3 billion. The budget plans supported by some legislators would abandon the efforts begun last year to provide students with the resources to prepare students for college and the workforce.

Rep. James Roebuck, D-Philadelphia, chairman of the House Education Committee, said, “There is nothing more important than our kids. We as legislators ought to do what is right, by funding schools so our children can achieve.”

Rep. Tony Payton, D-Philadelphia said, “I’m committed to not turning back the clock on school funding to 05-06 levels. We should fund public education according to the recommendations of the costing out study.”

Rep. Tom Houghton, D-Cochranville, reminded the crowd that a rollback in state funding for K-12 education creates more pressure on property taxpayers. “We need to fund education for the obvious reason, to support our children, but we also need to relieve pressure on property owners.”

PSEA and the National Education Association are sponsoring a television ad starting in markets across the state this week. The television ad, available at www.savepaschools.org, reminds viewers that children are the future, and shortchanging public education turns back the clock on Pennsylvania schools.