| THIS IS WHAT COMMITMENT LOOKS LIKE
Penn-Delco student Cameryn Knight-Branch didn’t mince words, standing in the rain as she sent her message to state lawmakers. “I am here in Harrisburg because PA students cannot wait any longer for you to step up and finish the job. We need full funding for our schools.”
Cameryn and her fellow students were joined by hundreds of other concerned students, educators, and civic leaders who sent a clear (and loud) message to legislators: Finish the job and fund our schools.
Their message reiterated that of the Commonwealth Court which ruled state lawmakers are in violation for failing to meet their constitutional obligation to ensure every child has access to a great public education.
With the uncertainty in Washington, D.C., keeping the pressure on state leaders is the only path to improving public education. In fact, it may also be the only protection for schools since PA receives $7.7 billion from the federal government in education funds. Any cuts would have significant consequences given the majority of the state’s students attend school in severely under-resourced school districts.
Last year, finally, state lawmakers adopted a rational way to fund schools, correcting decades of sending funds out willy-nilly and completely disconnected from student and district needs. And in doing so, lawmakers agreed that a $4.5 billion debt is owed to cure decades of school funding neglect.
Governor Shapiro pledged to continue last year’s progress and included $1.8 billion for education in his proposed budget. More than $870 million would go to the 387 rural, suburban, and urban schools that have long been underfunded and that educate most of the PA’s Black, Hispanic, and low-income students.
Repeated polls in our politically divided state point to a near consensus that investing in public schools should be a priority. Some lawmakers, though, assert that the state can’t afford it, citing potential state deficits in the years ahead. This doomsday thinking ignores the state’s $10 billion Rainy Day Fund and budget surplus on hand right now.
The enthusiastic crowd at the rally also hit home the case for the state to save $262 million in wasteful spending associated with the amount school districts must pay cyber charter schools every year. This waste-ending measure would provide a windfall to schools and students without having to raise taxes or dip into the Rainy Day Fund at all.
Shapiro’s proposal to cap payments to cyber schools has garnered strong bipartisan support because it covers reasonable cyber schools expenses while making into to policy the fact that cyber schools don’t have to pay for building maintenance, transportation, or significant staff AND that collectively they’ve amassed more than half a billion in taxpayer- funded surpluses. Cutting this waste will give schools the tools and resources to teach students real world skills.
A rally in the rain was an apt representation of PA’s school funding situation. While the state sits on a robust Rainy Day Fund and cyber schools are getting pennies from heaven, underfunded students are unfairly trapped waiting for the funding storm to calm.
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