COLUMN	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
State Rep. John Siptroth D- Monroe/Pike www.pahouse.com/siptroth

July 21, 2008

Education budget means more funding for area schools

By state Rep. John Siptroth

On July 8, I stood beside Gov. Ed Rendell as he signed the 2008-09 education budget funding package into law.

For the first time in nearly two decades, the new budget introduces a more predictable and fair education funding formula. This new formula is the first step toward adequate funding for growing districts that I aimed for by introducing H.R. 460.

I introduced H.R. 460 last fall to encourage action on the costing-out study the legislature commissioned in the previous session.

The almost unanimous adoption of H.R. 460 in the House in January of this year prompted the governor and lawmakers to create a new funding formula to better direct state education dollars to the districts where they are needed most.

This year's education budget increases funding for basic education by $274 million, while also continuing to fund successful initiatives that are benefiting children from early childhood through graduation.

In the 189^th Legislative District, which includes some of the fastest-growing school districts in the state, schools will receive between a 7 percent and 10 percent increase in their basic education funding, much higher than the statewide average of 3 percent.

School District                                              Total Basic Education Funding                              Increase (%)  

East Stroudsburg Area                                   $12.24 million                                                              10.05

Pleasant Valley                                               $21.12 million                                                              9.7

Stroudsburg Area                                            $9.22 million                                                                7.62

Delaware Valley                                              $12.4 million                                                                9.02

My goal is for the state to return to funding public education at a 50 share rather than the 35 percent it has been funding. Because of that loss in funding, school districts have turned to property owners to make up the difference, and that has meant great hardship to homeowners in my legislative district. The new funding outlined in this year's budget is a step in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go.

I would also like to point out that I am in support of shifting more of the school property tax burden to the sales tax and have co-sponsored several bills which seek to do this.

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