To: The Pennsylvania State House, The Pennsylvania State Senate, and Governor Tom Wolf
Gov. Corbett: Fair Funding for Public Schools Now!
We demand adequate, equitable, and sustainable public education funding so that ALL the children of Pennsylvania, not just the rich or privileged, receive the same high-quality education. We demand our legislators restore equity to the state funding formula, restore and increase education funding to adequate levels, and put children first in budget priorities.
Why is this important?
Our public schools are staggering under massive state budget cuts. Students in Pennsylvania have lost almost 20,000 of their teachers in the past two years. Our kids have lost music, art, library, languages, tutoring programs, full-day kindergarten and more. Our children are sitting in classes with 35 and even 39 students. In 2007, the state Legislature's own study found it was underfunding pubic education (especially in poorer school districts) by more than $4 billion and committed Pennsylvania to a six-year plan to fix the problem. But in 2011, the Legislature shamefully betrayed that commitment and cut close to $1 billion from our schools. Then last year, the governor and Legislature locked in those cuts for a second year, compounding the damage. And this year, even with a small increase in funding, Gov. Corbett proposes to mostly continue the compounded cuts while threatening to tie any increase to the pension crisis and alcohol sales, rather than providing leadership to find real solutions to this issue. This cannot stand. Public education is a public good. We need adequate, equitable, and sustainable funding for public education now!
More info: yinzercation.wordpress.com