NEWS
Education Voters of PA statement on rigging of Senate Education Committee makeup
Susan Spicka, Executive Director of Education Voters of PA, issued the following statement about Republican leadership’s decision to rig the makeup of the Senate Education Committee: Senate Republican leaders demonstrated the lengths to which they will go in an...
2017-2018 Budget Wrap-Up
In Harrisburg, almost four months late, lawmakers finally completed the 2017-2018 PA budget. In June, our legislature were happy to pass a $32 billion spending plan that protected programs and services important to their constituents, including a $100 million increase...
Our statement on the Senate Education Committee passing SB 2, the education savings account school voucher bill
UPDATE: Senator Eichelberger adjourned the Senate Education Committee meeting on October 24th after announcing a 6-5 vote in favor of Senate Bill 2. Later in the day, after an outcry from many people, Education Committee leaders acknowledged that Senator Tomlinson's...
PA schoolchildren will have their day in court!
On Thursday, September 28th, the PA Supreme Court issued a landmark decision. It ordered the Commonwealth Court to hold a full trial on PA's school funding lawsuit. The Court agreed with the plaintiffs that education funding should be subject to judicial review. They...
Taxpayer watchdogs or special interest lapdogs?
More than two months after passing a spending plan for the 2017-2018 budget, state lawmakers still have not approved a revenue package to fund the budget. In less than a week, the budget standoff in Harrisburg will turn into a budget crisis for Pennsylvanians. On...
PA Senate Budget: EITC increase out, severance tax in
Speaker Mike Turzai called the PA House to Harrisburg on Saturday, July 23 in the hopes of securing enough votes in his party to pass a revenue package to fund the 2017-2018 budget without new recurring revenues. He failed. After members of his own party rejected...
PA Senate passes charter school expansion bill, disregards needs of students and taxpayers
Susan Spicka, Executive Director of Education Voters of PA made the following statement about the PA Senate’s passage of HB 97: It is very disappointing that 26 members of the PA Senate voted to disregard the very real needs of the students and taxpayers they were...
Vouchers are back: Senate Ed Committee to vote on SB 2 on Tuesday
Late on Friday afternoon, the Senate Education Committee published online that it will be meeting on Tuesday, December 12th at 10:30 am in Room 8E-A in the East Wing of the Harrisburg Capitol to consider Senate Bill 2, the education savings account/Betsy DeVos school...
It’s time for the School District of Philadelphia to Return to Local Control, State Obligation to Adequately Fund District Schools Remains
Education Voters of PA supports the dissolution of the School Reform Commission and the return of the School District of Philadelphia to local control. Sixteen years of state control by the School Reform Commission have not solved the issues of the District. Instead,...
The PA School Code: A Stealth Attack on Public Education in PA
On Wednesday, October 18th, mostly along party lines, the PA House passed an amended School Code with significant attacks on public education buried deep in the 75-page bill. The School Code is an omnibus bill, a single document that requires a single vote, but...
Senate rejects House budget, PA’s credit downgraded
Your phone calls and emails made a difference. On Wednesday, Sept. 20th, in an overwhelming display of bipartisanship, the PA Senate voted 43-7 NOT to concur with the irresponsible PA House Republican revenue plan. The House GOP plan did not contain recurring revenues...
Finally, good news for PA public school students
After more than a year of taking extensive input from public education stakeholders at 30 sessions throughout the state, the Pennsylvania Department of Education released PA’s plan to comply with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the new federal education law...
Extremists ready to throw PA off fiscal cliff
More than three weeks into a state budget impasse, PA House Speaker Mike Turzai and his extremist followers have surfaced as the holdouts who are preventing the legislature from passing a responsible revenue package to fund the 2017-2018 state budget. This week Turzai...
UPDATE: PA Budget and HB 97, the charter expansion bill
It’s going to be a busy weekend in Harrisburg. On Friday, June 30th, the PA legislature passed the spending half of the 2017-2018 state budget agreement and sent it to Governor Wolf. Lawmakers have until Monday, July 10th, to get the revenue half of the agreement to...
The Republican tax bill’s assault on public education
At 2:00 am on Saturday morning, 51 US Senators voted to pass the Republican tax bill, a 479-page document that was so hastily written it had illegible policy changes scrawled in the margins. Senators were given the bill on Friday evening and told that they would have...
Who voted for school vouchers in PA?
After a confusing series of events that took place on Tuesday, October 24, the education savings account/DeVos school voucher bill, Senate Bill 2, remains in the Senate Education Committee, where lawmakers may vote on it in the future. Initially, the Senate Ed...
Joint Resolution 1–PA’s school funding system that is inadequate & inequitable today will be just as inadequate & inequitable if this passes.
On November 7, 2017, Pennsylvania voters will find a proposed amendment to the PA Constitution, Joint Resolution 1, on their ballots. This amendment ignores the real problem PA faces--inadequate state funding for schools, which puts excessive pressure on property...
Guns Don’t Belong in Schools
Susan Spicka, Executive Director of Education Voters of PA, made the following comments at a press conference in the Harrisburg Capitol on September 12, 2017, where she joined PA Secretary of Education, Pedro Rivera, and representatives from the Education Law Center,...
Our statement on the PA Budget Impasse
For Immediate Release August 21, 2017 Education Voters of PA Media contacts: Susan Spicka Susan Spicka, Executive Director of Education Voters of PA, made the following statement at a joint press conference with the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: For...
HB 97 on hold, more taxpayer $ for private schools on deck, and lawmakers have left the building
Here is a rundown of what is happening in Harrisburg and DC that may impact public school students in PA. HB 97, the charter expansion bill It appears the PA House has decided to put HB 97 on hold until the fall. Great, great work making calls and sending emails to...