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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Jennifer L. Mann |
  
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Mann sponsors 2008-09 school funding budget bill; governor signs into law
HARRISBURG, July 9 – State Rep. Jennifer L. Mann, D-Lehigh, said legislation she sponsored (H.B. 1067) that funds education programs for 2007-08 was signed into law by the governor.
The new budget includes a 5.5 percent increase in basic education funding, the largest in 20 years. The budget also introduces a more need-based school funding formula and directs state dollars to proven educational programs such as Classrooms for the Future, Science: It's Elementary and Pre-K Counts.
Mann was one of the authors of a costing-out study of public education to figure out the best use of state education dollars. The study was the basis for the budget's funding formula.
"I was proud that the work I did on the study became the basis for providing more equitable funding to school districts," Mann said.
Legislation Mann previously sponsored to fund safe school programs was also included in the budget bill. The bill provides grants for the implementation of research-based violence prevention programs that address risk factors to reduce incidents of problem behavior among students, including bullying and cyber bullying. Her legislation amends the Safe Schools program to require that disciplinary records be transferred along with a student if he or she transfers to a new school within a school district.
"This will help staff be aware of and avoid potential problems that could arise based on a student's past disciplinary record," Mann said.
She noted that over the past 10 years, Allentown School District has received a more-than 255 percent increase in basic education funding. Because of these increases, the district has been able to hold the line on taxes for the past three years.
"The increase in funding benefits not only schools but also homeowners," Mann said.
Basic education funding totals over $5 billion, an increase of more than 5 percent from 2007, and funding for charter schools also increased.
"Children are the real winners in this year's budget," Mann said.
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