As we head into summer, public education advocates should be proud that their hard work over the past year has paid off. The thousands of phone calls you made and emails you sent from every corner of the commonwealth have kept anti-public education legislation from becoming law in Pennsylvania.

• Senate Bill 2, the education savings account school voucher bill, has languished.
• House Bill 97, the charter school expansion bill, did not come up for a vote.
• Senate Bill 1198, legislation that would have mandated continuing to label schools as successful or failing based primarily on students’ standardized test scores using the School Performance Profile (SPP), did not see action.

Unfortunately, anti-public education lawmakers were able to muscle into the budget a $25 million increase in funding for private/religious school vouchers through PA’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program. Budget negotiations were held behind closed doors and powerful legislative leaders insisted on this increase in funding in exchange for their support of the budget deal.

To learn more, read our Myth Busting PA’s EITC/OSTC Programs.

After this increase, the EITC program and its companion the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program (OSTC) will provide a whopping $160 million/year for vouchers to unaccountable private/religious school that are legally allowed to discriminate against students. And, thanks to an increase in maximum household income, children in a family of 4 that earns $116,000 will be eligible for voucher.

This increase in funding is disappointing and we will need to work hard to prevent future increases. However, all-in-all, this was a good budget for PA’s public school students.  Below find highlights from the budget, school code, and school safety legislation.

The 2018-2019 budget

State lawmakers included most Governor Wolf’s proposed school funding increases in the 2018-2019 budget deal. While these investments are critical and welcome, it is important to remember that they are just a small step toward achieving adequate funding for schools so that all children receive the opportunities they need to succeed in school.

• $100 million more for Basic Education Funding
• $15 million more in special education funding ($5 million less than Gov. Wolf had proposed)
• $30 million more for career and technical education (the first increase in 8 years!)
• $25 million more for pre-k & Head Start

School safety legislation (Senate Bill 1142)

• It establishes the School Safety Security Fund with $60 million in one-time funding for grants to school districts. All school districts that have a valid application are guaranteed at least $25,000 in funding. The money can be used to make a wide variety of investments that will meet local districts’ needs, including building improvements, teacher training, counseling programs, school police, and much more.
• It establishes the “Safe2Say” anonymous tip line for reporting potential threats in schools.
• It requires that the Pennsylvania State Police establish three regional Risk and Vulnerability Assessment teams that would provide school districts with free school safety and security assessments.

School Code legislation (House Bill 1148)

• Provides a $25 million increase in funding for private/religious school vouchers through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program and increases family income limit so that a children in a family of four that earns $116, 000/year are eligible for vouchers.
• Delays the Keystone Exam graduation requirement until the 2020-2021 school year.
• Allows school boards to discuss school safety issues in executive session.
• Requires one school security drill per school in place of a fire drill and allows school districts to conduct two additional security drills in place of fire drills.
• Changes the “lunch shaming” legislation enacted last year to allow school personnel to communicate directly with children in grades 9-12 who owe money for their lunches and allows schools to restrict privileges and activities for students who owe money for lunches if the same restrictions apply to students who owe money for other reasons.

Thank you again for your support of public education. Your advocacy makes an enormous difference for PA’s school children.

Over the summer I will be working on issue and advocacy materials so  we can hit the ground running in the fall, prepared to fight for adequate, equitable funding for PA’s public school students and good policies that will support their schools. If there are issues that you’d like me to focus on, please send me an email. Thank you again!