Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Wolf proposes major funding changes
Gov. Tom Wolf went bold Wednesday.
He presented his annual budget address — a day late due to a snowstorm and virtually because of the ongoing pandemic — laying out his plan for Pennsylvania. It was not a status quo vision he shared, far from it.
Wolf called for some major changes. Nowhere more so than in the world of public education where he’s asking for a nearly $1.8 billion increase in spending and some significant policy overhauls.
“High-quality education is the ticket to greater opportunity for our children,” Wolf explained. “Without it, how can we hope that our kids will lead better lives than we did?”
Fair funding
Wolf’s 2021-22 budget proposal would increase state funding to school districts across the state by about $1.5 billion. It would also reconfigure how all that money is dolled out, resulting in some districts getting huge influxes of cash.
The reason behind his transformative proposal, Wolf said, is to address the inequities that have plagued education in the state for generations.
“Far too many parents across the commonwealth — in Westmoreland County, in Fulton County, in Tioga County, in North Philadelphia and beyond — felt like the op
portunities available to their kids would be determined less by their talent and more by their ZIP code,” he said. “No matter how great a parent you are, if your local school system lacks the resources it needs to provide your kids with a quality education, that’s a barrier to giving them a better life.
“A barrier so big, it actually blocks out the sun.”
To address that problem, Wolf wants to change how the state hands out basic education subsidies, the largest stream of state money provided to schools districts.
Back in 2016, the state enacted a new fair funding formula in an attempt to level the playing field. It takes into consideration things like the number of economically disadvantaged students in a district and a district’s tax base in calculating who should get what.
The hope was that the new formula would help bolster consistently underfunded districts.
But since its inception the formula has only been used for “new money,” dollars added to basic education funding after 2016. That has meant any leveling has taken place at a snail’s pace.
Wolf’s budget proposal changes that. He wants to run all basic education funding through the new formula. That would mean some districts, like Reading, would see enormous funding increases.
Other districts would see funding cuts, which Wolf said he will cover with additional state funding to make sure no districts gets less than it is currently receiving.
“Finally, we will be able to fully and fairly fund every school, in every school district, in every part of the commonwealth,” he said. “Putting all this funding through the fair funding formula means that struggling schools will finally get the resources they need without taking away from schools already being adequately funded.”
The move, he said, will not only serve to improve schools across the state, but will also provide relief to taxpayers in school districts that have had to rely on property tax increases to cover funding deficiencies.
Other education moves
Along with a major overhaul of basic education funding, Wolf is also proposing some other moves.
His budget proposal includes a $200 million increase in funding for special education.
The governor said he also plans to reform the state’s charter school system through moves like changing how much charter schools can charge districts for special education students and creating a statewide cybercharter tuition rate. Wolf said his proposal will save districts a big chunk of money.
Collegium Charter School CEO Marita Barber said cuts to charter school funding will negatively impact on programs offered.
“While playing favorites, Governor Wolf fails to acknowledge that families leave district schools for public charter schools because those district schools either cannot or will not provide services those students need and deserve,” Barber said. “By proposing $229 million per year cuts in charter school funding,
Governor Wolf is trying to rob families of school choice and force students back into the districts they chose to leave.
“Collegium Charter School provides many specialized programs that stand to be impacted if the governor’s $229 million charter school funding cuts pass.”
Guy Ciarrocchi, president and CEO of the Chester County Chamber of Business and Industry, was critical of Wolf’s budget proposal.
“It’s the wrong plan, at the wrong time,” Ciarrocchi said. “And, he knows that it has no chance in becoming law. So, at the very moment when we need leadership and cooperation, he announced this plan to make political points and drive a further wedge between him and the Republican-led Legislature. The budget address imposes taxes we do not need and offers no help where it is needed.”
State Sen. John Kane, D9th, of Birmingham, said Wolf’s budget addresses measures to support working families and equitably fund education as important steps forward to improve the lives of his constituents.
“I came from a career as a union plumber,” Kane said. “I know what it’s like to work to make ends meet, to fight to find a job that will pay enough to put food on the table. The proposed budget would lower taxes for 40 percent of Pennsylvanians, raise the minimum wage to ensure it’s enough for workers to live on, and fairly fund our schools without putting the burden on families and seniors through increased property taxes. That’s how we get a Pennsylvania that works for working folks.”
Wolf also proposed increasing the statewide minimum salary for teachers to $45,000 from $18,500; redirecting $199 million in money currently going to the Horse Racing Development Fund into a scholarship fund for students attending colleges in the state system; and increasing funding for prekindergarten and early learning programs.