Gov. Wolf touts $1.3B for public schools
The future of all Pennsylvania students should be a priority. That was the message at a news conference Thursday during which Gov. Tom Wolf touted a $1.3 billion investment in the state's public school system.
Wolf said just 11%, or $700 million, of funding ran through the state's fair-funding formula last year.
That means 89%, or $5.5 billion, of funding is still distributed based on student enrollment in 1992 and does not consider shifts in student counts or actual costs that today's school districts face.
Wolf's proposal runs all existing basic education funding through the fair-funding formula.
“My common-sense plan restores fairness to school funding to ensure every community can provide the quality education students need to succeed in life,” Wolf said.
An additional $1.15 billion in Wolf's proposal also would ensure that no school district's state funding would be reduced. Rural and urban school districts, Wolf said, have had to fill state funding gaps with local property tax increases, which place a burden on working families.He said the personal income tax increase included in his budget proposal will affect 33% of Pennsylvanians, while low- and moderate-income earners will see a tax break.Families that have two children and are making $50,000 would have their state income tax eliminated and families making less than $84,000 would see a tax cut, Wolf said.“Growing districts in urban, suburban and rural communities will finally get their fair share and shrinking districts are protected,” Wolf said. “Because no matter where you live, every student deserves an opportunity to succeed.”Wolf's education plan also forces accountability and transparency for charter schools, which he said would put students first and save public school districts $229 million per year.Public school districts must pay tuition for students who attend charter schools, which are not held to the same state scrutiny as public schools.In the case of the South Butler County School District, Superintendent David Foley said in December the number of students attending an outside cyber or charter school had doubled after the pandemic began.Foley said the $630,000 budgeted by the district for payments to cyber and charter schools had already been surpassed in December.
Regarding Wolf's proposed $1.3 billion investment in education, Foley said increased state funding could allow summer school for students who experienced issues during at-home learning; improve science, technology, engineering and math opportunities for students; and improve education curriculum in core subjects.Foley said he has concerns regarding high school students who are trying to get into college and trade school during an unusual year.“We want (students) to have the basic skills to be successful,” Foley said. “A lot of that time in front of teachers has been interrupted.”
An increase in education funding is welcome news, but the increase funded by raising the personal income tax rate in Wolf's proposed budget isn't likely to be approved by the Legislature, said Brian White, superintendent of the Butler Area School District. “While we're always happy to hear the state will provide the funding that they should, it's hard to imagine that what was proposed will actually pass,” White said. “I think the Legislature and the governor have a lot of work ahead of them.”An element of the proposed budget that would set $45,000 as the minimum annual salary for teachers wouldn't affect Butler because the district's starting pay is higher, White said. Part of the proposal would increase the minimum wage for other employees such as support staff to $12.50 an hour and gradually to $15 an hour. The impact of that increase isn't known.“This is new. We haven't done any analysis on this,” White said.A better proposal, White said, would eliminate costly state mandates.“Without the federal (COVID-19) stimulus, the state increase wouldn't cover our operating expenses alone. We would have a deficit if the federal stimulus wasn't in place, and lot of our costs are things the state mandated,” White said. “Revenue is one way to solve it. Another way is eliminating mandates that cost districts and taxpayers money.”<i>Eagle staff writer Steve Ferris contributed to this report.</i>
