NEWS
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
PA Senate approves guns in classrooms, HB 97 on tap
By a vote of 28 to 22, the PA Senate approved SB 383, a bill that allows teachers and other school employees to carry concealed, loaded firearms in public schools. Click HERE to see how your senator voted. Each school board will decide if it will allow teachers and...
Can you spare 5 minutes on Monday?
Legislative leaders have begun holding closed-door meetings to hash out a 2017-2018 state budget. On Monday, June 19th, state lawmakers will return to Harrisburg, where they will have less than two weeks to pass a balanced budget by the June 30th deadline. The...
The next 26 days
Decisions PA legislators make in the upcoming weeks will have a lasting impact on PA's public school students. From now until June 30th, when the state budget is due, lawmakers will be passing legislation and cutting deals as they determine how much state funding our...