Right now there are more than 175 House bills awaiting action in the Republican-controlled Senate – most of them passed with bipartisan majorities – that would make your life better.

Many of those bills help our students, schools & taxpayers – but are trapped in the Senate.

When every kid has access to a good public school, there is a brighter future for everyone – but when we pick and choose winners and losers before kids even set foot in a classroom, we’re setting our entire commonwealth up for failure.

We have to get this right. Here’s how we’re delivering for you.

  • Invested more money in public schools than ever before.
  • Provided vital funding for colleges like Penn State, Pitt, Lincoln, and Temple specifically to lower tuition for in state-students and offered families a break on tuition hikes by freezing increases for the upcoming academic year.
  • Stood against any effort to take taxpayer money away from public schools and give it to for-profit companies looking to make a buck off our kids.
  • Passed a bill to provide small stipends to student-teachers so they can earn while they learn – and focus on becoming the best teacher they can be instead of having to run from the classroom to a part-time job.

  • Funded the Level Up Program to help the 100 school districts with the greatest financial challenges. Some school districts have huge tax bases with boundless new construction and thriving retail corridors. Some school districts are in “landlocked” cities with an aging population and multiple tax-exempt public properties. Kids in both kinds of districts deserve the same chance to succeed.
  • Funded Ready-to-Learn block grants that give schools flexibility on how they invest state dollars.

  • Created a grant program to get more teachers in the classroom by helping them pay their tuition in exchange for their commitment to teach kids here in PA.
  • Created a program where older students looking to someday become teachers can get academic credit for helping tutor younger students.

  • Delivered financial help for school districts in cities and rural areas to create pathways to “grow their own” teachers in the places they’re needed the most and facing the most turnover. 
  • Passed the first real Charter School reform in a generation – making sure these school using your tax dollars are held to the same standards as traditional public schools, and saving taxpayers almost a half-BILLION dollars in the process.

  • Made it easier for students attending college classes at their high schools, and protected the taxpayers of the school districts hosting the college classes.
  • Protected every teacher’s right to religious expression.
  • Addressed teacher burnout and teacher turnover with comprehensive plans.

  • Cut the red tape and made it easier for kids in military families to register for school when their active-duty serving parents are transferred to a new base.
  • Made it easier for school districts to help save you money by using solar energy to keep the lights and heat on in the thousands of school building in the state.

  • Helped save lives by helping schools & parents identify eating disorders in students.
  • Brought school code language into the 21st century by getting rid of obsolete and offensive terms.
  • Given schools more support to fix leaky roofs, repair broken heating & cooling systems, and clean up lead paint & asbestos without raising taxes.

  • Made sure the kids active-duty soldiers, sailors, airmen, guardians, Marines and guardsmen attending state schools would keep their in-state college tuition rates even if their parents were transferred.
  • Made sure college students starting their careers in affordable community colleges have all their credits transfer to a traditional college without any hassles.

  • Held hearings in every corner of the commonwealth speaking to teachers, parents, administrators, and students about how we can do better and live up to our constitutional obligations.
  • Stood against any effort to take taxpayer money away from public schools and hand it to parents already sending their kids to private schools.
  • Stood against any effort to violate the constitution to take taxpayer money away from public schools and give it to religious schools.

 

  • Block Level Up funding.
  • Hold up basic school funding.
  • Hold up college funding for Penn State, Pitt, Lincoln & Temple students.
  • Ban books.
  • Push right-wing conspiracy theories.
  • Make it easier for out-of-state groups to threaten local school boards.
  • Put more guns in schools.