Yet Another Reason for Adequate Funding for Public Schools

Neighborhood schools strengthen communities and our state’s current education funding schemes play a role in that, for better or for worse. Here is a great article on delcotimes.com on a new report released Friday enforcing the notion that property values are contingent on student achievement in local schools. You can read the entire article here:  Report: Good schools…

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PA Schools Work – Communications and Advocacy “Lunch and Learn”

On Tuesday, February 26 at noon, Education Voters and their partners from the PA Schools Work coalition will be unpacking the Governor’s budget proposal and sharing tips on how to be an effective advocate for our public schools and students. Click HERE to register for the webinar. During this webinar, which should last for an hour or less,…

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Cyber Charter Funding Reform Needed Now

Recently, our friends at Education Voters of PA issued a report that examines Pennsylvania’s flawed cyber school funding system and provides recommendations for a new system that will more closely match the funding sent to cyber charter schools with the actual cost of providing students with an online education. This proposal would help control property tax…

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How Much Would Your School District Receive in Gov. Wolf’s Proposal?

Recently, Governor Wolf gave his budget address and proposed the following increases in K-12 funding in the 2019-2020 state budget: $10 million for career and technical education funding $50 million for special education funding $168 million for Basic Education Funding that will be distributed to school districts through the formula* $45 million in grant funding…

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Getting Involved – Advocating for Fair Funding 101

Pennsylvania currently ranks 46th in the country in state contributions to local school funding. The US average is around 47%  while Bethlehem’s current state share of basic education is around 20% resulting in the BASD being underfunded by around $45 million dollars! The State’s failure to fully fund our local schools pushes this burden of…

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Resolution No. 2019 – in Support of Fair Funding Formula for Pennsylvania Schools

How bad is Pennsylvania in the area of equitable education funding? A 2015 Washington Post study found that Pennsylvania’s state and local per-pupil spending in its poorest school districts is 33 percent lower than per-pupil spending in the state’s most affluent school districts, nearly double that of the next worse state and the highest differential…

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Fair Funding on the Decline

Last week petitioners in Pennsylvania’s school funding lawsuit filed a brief and affidavits refuting the claim made by the Republican leader of the PA Senate, Joe Scarnati, that the lawsuit was rendered moot because the state adopted a school funding formula in 2016. The brief details how state funding increases have not kept pace with rising…

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How a charter school tuition change could cost Pa. districts dearly

This post is a follow up in detail on a previeous article we tweeted a few days ago. By Sara K. Satullo   ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com,   For lehighvalleylive.com Updated May 1; Posted May 1 Bethlehem Area School District taxpayers are facing another school tax hike that has school board members fired up about Pennsylvania’s charter school funding formula. The school board held a budget workshop Monday night to…

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