FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 29, 2015

We are glad that public schools will receive much needed, short-term emergency funding to keep their doors open and their lights on. However, the budget lawmakers passed before going home for their holiday break is wholly inadequate and unacceptable as a long term solution to the funding problems facing our public schools.

We most strongly urge lawmakers to return to Harrisburg now, put aside their differences, and work on a real budget that places the needs of students first and invests in the future of the Commonwealth.

Lawmakers must support the compromise budget that contains an increase of $350 million in Basic Education Funding and $50 million in special education.  This budget was passed in the Senate and has received strong bipartisan support in the House.

After all of the pain that this impasse has caused, Pennsylvanian’s public school children deserve a budget that is worth the wait. They deserve a budget that will take a first step in the direction of  correcting funding disparities of years past and making necessary investments moving forward to ensure that all children in Pennsylvania, no matter where they live, will have the opportunity to learn and be successful both in school and after graduation.