For Immediate Release

February 2, 2020

Education Voters of PA

Media contacts:  Susan Spicka                                 

HARRISBURG, PA (February 4, 2020) —Susan Spicka, Executive Director of Education Voters of PA, a nonpartisan, nonprofit statewide organization that advocates for adequate and equitable state funding for public education, issued the following statement about Governor Wolf’s 2020-2021 state budget proposal.

 “This budget proposal is welcome and reflects Governor Wolf’s continued support for public education.  Education Voters of PA supports Governor Wolf’s proposal to increase funding available to public school districts by a minimum of $405 million through a combination of new investments in state funding and commonsense reforms to the way charter schools are funded that will save school districts at least $280 million each year.

 “Governor Wolf’s proposed investments of an additional $100 million in Basic Education and $25 million in special education funding through the state funding formulas are welcome. But alone, they are insufficient to take pressure off of local property taxes to fund education and to ensure that students have the resources in their classrooms that they need to succeed.

“We applaud Governor Wolf’s proposed charter school funding reforms, which are long overdue.  These reforms will bring the tuition that school districts pay to charter schools in closer alignment with what charters actually spend educating students and create a fairer and more efficient funding system for the charter sector.  Local taxpayers can no longer support excessive payments to charter and cyber charter schools that are used to inflate executive salaries and fund million-dollar advertising campaigns instead of enhancing educational opportunities for students.

“Under current law, charter school special education tuition rates are based on the average special education expenditure of the student’s home district. Tuition rates do not take into account the level of disability of the student enrolled in the charter school or provide funding based on the three cost categories that are used in allocating state special education funding to school districts.  Charter schools often collect an excess of $10,000 or more per student than they spend providing services and can then reallocate this excess special education funding and use it to pay for other things.

“Education Voters of PA supports Governor Wolf’s proposal to apply the state special education funding formula to charter schools to more closely align school district special education tuition rates with the actual costs of services for students with disabilities. This will eliminate the profit that charters reap off of payments for students with disabilities and save school districts $147 million each year.

Wolf’s proposal to set a flat rate for cyber charter school tuition at $9500 per student and to apply the special education funding to this rate is a step in the right direction. His proposal would save school districts $133 million while continuing to provide cyber charter schools with nearly twice the amount it costs school districts to provide students with a full-time education at home on a computer.

Without the $405 million in new investments and savings proposed by the governor, school districts would once again be forced to cut programs and services for students,  increase property taxes,  forego needed investments in students, or all three, in order to balance their budgets in 2020-2021.  We most strongly encourage state lawmakers to support Governor Wolf’s proposal.

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