It will take LESS
THAN FIVE MINUTES to email your
State Representative, State Senator, and
Governor
EdRendell to ask them to give all Pennsylvania students a
quality education by clicking on the hyperlink “tell
your legislators” (below). Please take a few
minutes now to send this email communication via our
partner’s (PennsylvaniaSchool Funding Campaign) website email
tool.
It is vital that you
tell your legislators thatnow is the time to provide Pennsylvania school
districts with adequate, equitable, and reliable
resources to give all students a quality education. In
addition, ask them to tell their leaders, who are
negotiating the final budget issues, that this is
important to them! The General Assembly has only one more week
to finish its work on next year’s budget. We have no
time to lose!
Background:
Next Monday is the General
Assembly’s deadline to adopt a state
budget for the fiscal year starting July 1. Last week,
the state Senate voted along party lines to adopt a
2008-09 budget, Senate Bill 1389, which cuts the
Governor’s proposed basic education funding increase by
41 percent. Many school districts have adopted their
budgets for next year, and practically all will have
done so by the end of the week. This late action is
unfair to local school boards and will leave many
districts with the prospect of cutting programs for the
fall or raising property taxes next year to make up for
the state revenue shortfall.
The Senate action contrasts with a bipartisan 23-5 vote
in the House Education Committee on June 4 to approve
the Governor’s proposed school funding formula. Please
tell your legislators that the House must restore
the Senate’s budget cuts and enact a fair, adequate,
reliable funding formula, and that the Senate should
support both a formula and a higher spending level
before going home for the summer. Action on the budget
shifts back to the House this week, and at the same time
House and Senate leaders and the Governor’s office will
be negotiating several tough budget issues, including
school finance.
**Please file a post-advocacy action report with
the LAMPa office by e-mailing
lampa@lamp.org, calling 717-545-3500 or writing to LAMPa
at 900 S. Arlington Ave., Suite 117, Harrisburg, PA,
17109, including a summary of any advocacy you do on
this issue.**
