Action Alert!

Education Finance Reform

What You Can Do:

Visit, call, write, and/or e-mail your State Representative and State Senator to let them know how important education finance reform is to you. Specifically, you are encouraged to:

· Ask them to vote YES on HB 2449 and SB 1338 in order to support a school funding formula that is adequate, equitable, accountable, and efficient.

· Ask them to support the appropriation of a significant down payment toward the necessary and adequate funding levels in the 2008-2009 Budget.

Contact information for your state senator or representative(s) is easy to

find by accessing the LAMPa website at http://www.lamp.org. On the homepage, look for the box labeled “Find Your Elected Officals.” Enter your zip code and click “Find.” Click on the “State” tab. (Depending on where you live, you will need the Zip+4 code to access the information. If you don’t know it, click on the button,

“Look up Zip+4” at the bottom of the open window.)

Background

Pennsylvania continues to have one of the nation's most ineffective and unjust statewide funding systems for elementary and secondary education. As a result of insufficient state funding, public education in Pennsylvania is very dependent on local wealth; and the access to quality education for children varies widely.

Like most other states, Pennsylvania has adopted statewide student-learning standards as part of its strategy for creating more effective and positive student outcomes. However, until recently state lawmakers have never determined how they might structure a funding system that helps schools achieve high academic standards. As a start, Pennsylvania performed a “costing-out study” to obtain objective information on how to fund public education so that all students have a real opportunity to meet the learning standards. In late 2006, the Pennsylvania State Board of Education embarked on “a comprehensive statewide costing-out study to arrive at a determination of the basic cost per pupil to provide an education that will permit a student to meet the State’s academic standards and assessments.” For more information, see the Education Finance Reform Issue Brief on the LAMPa website.

The results of the PA “costing-out study” reveal that there is an average funding gap across the state of $2,414 per student. In many districts, however, that gap is much greater, including Reading ($6,437), Upper Darby ($4,388), Shenandoah Valley ($4,286) and Saint Marys ($3,145). With these kinds of funding shortfalls the youth of Pennsylvania will not be prepared for success in today’s world. (You may contact the LAMPa office for specific information about the funding gap for specific school districts.)

In response to the “costing-out study”, bills have been introduced in the House (HB 2449) and Senate (SB 1338) that would begin to address these funding inequities in a systematic way. If passed, the bills will ensure that a school district’s funding needs are determined by a formula based on the “costing-out study” report that takes into account such factors as enrollment, number of low-income students and English language learners, district size, and regional cost differences. The newly established funding formula will be based on the principles of accountability, adequacy, efficiency, equity and predictability — the same principles outlined by the National Council of State Legislatures as essential for a sound school funding formula.

Additionally, the proposed formula would include measures to ensure that the increased funds would be used in ways that best lead to improvements for students. These measures include extended school day, reducing class size, expansion of Pre-K and full-day Kindergarten, and efforts to guarantee qualified teachers and principals. Most importantly, the proposal takes seriously the fact that different students have different needs.

ELCA Policy Base Our Calling in Education, 2007

**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.**