Endorse the Campaign
Individual Endorsement
Pennsylvania School Funding Campaign
Successful Schools...Successful Children...Successful Communities
Statement of Support
Highly effective public schools are vital to the economic success of our communities and to ensure that Pennsylvania’s children become successful, productive, taxpaying citizens. The recipe for effective public schools is well known and includes evidence-based ingredients such as qualified teachers and administrators; early childhood education; standards-based curriculum; appropriate class sizes; and useful assessments of student learning.
However, as detailed in the Costing-Out Study authorized and funded by the General Assembly, the current state funding system DOES NOT provide adequate or equitable funding to schools to meet state standards and therefore DOES NOT ensure a quality education for every child. The Governor and the General Assembly have the constitutional responsibility and authority to fix the problems of the state’s ineffective and unfair school finance system.
Therefore, I the undersigned, urge the Governor and the PA General Assembly to:
1) Allocate sufficient funds in the 2008-2009 budget to make a significant start toward implementation of a NEW statewide system of public school funding based on the 2007 costing-out study; and
2) Enact legislation in conjunction with the 2008-2009 budget to implement and fully finance by 2013 (including appropriate annual adjustments) a comprehensive, systemic and sustainable education funding plan based on the following five principles:
| Adequacy: |
to ensure that the necessary educational and financial resources as identified by the Costing-Out Study are available in every school district to support every student in meeting statewide academic standards. |
| Equity: |
to ensure that state funds are distributed so districts with the least local resources receive the most state support per student to meet the adequacy level. This will allow local districts to reduce over-reliance on local property taxes and improve fairness by capping the local tax effort necessary to meet the local share. |
| Efficiency: |
to utilize state and local resources appropriately and effectively toward achieving state academic standards. |
| Accountability: |
successfully achieve state and federal performance requirements. The state provides the necessary technical and financial resources and school districts demonstrate student outcomes, appropriate local financial resources and stewardship of taxpayer funds. |
| Predictability: |
provide state funding in a manner that allows school districts to plan their budgets and programs. |
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