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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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Majority
Leader Bill DeWeese |
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House Democrats work to give students and schools the tools they need
HARRISBURG, Nov. 14 – House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, Majority Whip Keith McCall and Education Committee Chairman Jim Roebuck said today’s release of the comprehensive study of per-student spending by school districts is a significant step toward reforming the way young people are taught and the way schools are funded across the Commonwealth.
“The disparity between our state’s richest and poorest school districts is never more palpable than when viewed through the prism of academic advantage,” DeWeese said. “While this study substantiates our per-student investment from the state level, it is absolutely certain that varying levels of local funding are penalizing students in certain regions and possibly forcing tax hikes. This study gives us the knowledge we need to move forward and come up with a plan to leave behind the errors of the past and guarantee a brighter future for our young people and make sure they leave our high schools on an even keel with their peers.
“Some facts are intuitive: poorer districts tend to not to be able to spend enough to provide an adequate education; and wealthier districts can ‘take up the slack’ more easily, even though poorer districts get more state aid. Some facts are not: our state and local tax burden is lower than average of our neighboring states like New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Maryland. What’s important is that we have these facts at hand for the next step.”
“Now that we have this independent analysis, it’s time for the next step: the passage of House Resolution 460, sponsored by Rep. John Siptroth of Monroe County.” McCall said. “This bipartisan proposal would create the Joint Legislative Commission on Public School Finance and bring together more than 40 experts from all sides of the education debate – from school financing and education to front-line teachers to district business managers and lawmakers. These people who are making the decisions about school funding and curriculum will examine this data, determine what’s working now – and what’s not – and return with a proposal that the legislature can consider. A proposal that will make sure every child in the state gets a solid education at a price the district’s taxpayers can afford.”
“According to this study, to bring every student in the state up to meeting the standards required would require spending $12,057 per student, and we’re currently spending $9,512 per student,” Roebuck said. “But simply ‘throwing money’ at the problem is not the solution. This information is a starting point on a road to a better way to teach our children, and creating this commission is the logical next step, which is why my committee is scheduling a public meeting on this resolution, with an eye on getting this proposal to a vote as soon as possible.”
The study, called for by legislation approved by the House and Senate, charged the respected educational analysis firm of Augenblick, Palaich and Associates to address two key issues relating to school funding: funding equity and funding adequacy. The firm based its study on 2005-2006 data and did not include the costs of food service, capital costs, debt service, community services, adult education or transportation in the per-student cost. More information on the study is available from the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s web site at www.pde.state.pa.us.
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