PSEA President Calls For Conference Committee To Support K-12 Education Funding In State Budget

PSEA President Jim Testerman renewed the call on leaders of the General Assembly to focus their talks on the state budget on the real needs of students.

“School funding reform in Pennsylvania will either move forward or halt -- perhaps for many years -- with this state budget,” said Testerman. “The children of the high school class of 2022 are entering kindergarten this fall, and in education there are no do-overs.

“We are urging members of the legislative conference committee to remember the needs of students in Pennsylvania’s public schools as they seek to resolve the budget impasse.”

Leaders of the General Assembly convened a conference committee to discuss differences in the House and Senate budget proposals. Republican leaders are still supporting a plan which would cut funding for basic education.

The GOP plan would reduce state support for public schools by more than $700 million, forcing educational program cuts and cause property tax increases. The Republican proposal would roll back state subsidies to 2005-06 levels, and backfill using federal monies intended for increases. They count federal Title I and special education stimulus funds as increases, but in reality those funds are restricted and only available to help educate certain students, in certain buildings, in certain districts.  Many of Pennsylvania’s students would not benefit, and districts are prohibited from using these categorical funds to continue evidence-based efforts to improve student achievement, such as reduced class sizes and full-day kindergarten.

Nearly a third of all Pennsylvania students attend schools where Title I funds cannot be used. Ten percent of all districts receive no Title I stimulus funds. One in four schools (enrolling 495,000 students) are not eligible to receive Title I funds.

Testerman reiterated that use of federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars to replace state funds for basic education would not only circumvent the purpose of these dollars -- to save jobs, support school districts and advance reforms -- but would also reverse the meaningful funding reforms that elected officials supported after the General Assembly’s own study found that Pennsylvania public schools were underfunded by $4.3 billion.

“Cuts of this magnitude would halt the progress made last year in reforming Pennsylvania’s school funding system, which -- until implementation of the new 2008 funding formula -- was considered one of the most inequitable and regressive in the nation,” Testerman said. “The alleged ‘increases’ in public education funding amount to not much more than a shell game with federal funds and will return us to a time when district budgets are based on factors other than numbers of students and individual district needs.”

According to a U.S. Census Bureau report released July 27, Pennsylvania trailed all but three states in the nation in state funding for education during the 2006-07 school year. The Census Bureau reported that only Illinois, Nebraska and South Dakota pick up a smaller share of total education funding at the state level than Pennsylvania. In contrast, Massachusetts has the best overall student achievement levels in the country on the national report card, known as NAEP, while investing over $2,100 per pupil more than Pennsylvania at the state level, while shifting less of the burden to local taxpayers.

Pennsylvania’s public schools are making progress, Testerman pointed out. A record number of Pennsylvania students are performing on grade level in reading and math, with increases seen across the board for the first time ever in all grades and subjects tested, according to the state Department of Education.

According to the most recent results of the annual Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, given in reading and math in grades 3-8 and 11, more of the state’s students are performing at “proficient” or “advanced” levels than ever before.

A Quinnipiac University poll released last week reaffirmed Pennsylvanians' support for public schools. Asked if they would be willing to pay more taxes to protect specific state spending, a majority of the respondents said they would, in order to protect healthcare and public schools from cuts. 

PSEA and the National Education Association are sponsoring television and radio ads in markets across the state. The ads, available at www.savepaschools.org, remind viewers that children are the future, and shortchanging public education turns back the clock on Pennsylvania schools.