NEWS
This is a Budget Worth Fighting For
On Tuesday, February 6th, Governor Josh Shapiro gave his 2024-2025 state budget address. Below please find details of the funding proposals in the budget, including links to spreadsheets that will download and open as Excel files.. Click HERE to read the full response...
Governor Shapiro’s proposed, historic investment in public K-12 schools deserves strong support; a new private school voucher program that could make these investments in public schools short lived must be opposed.
For Immediate Release February, 6, 2024 Governor Shapiro’s proposed, historic investment in public K-12 schools deserves strong support; a new private school voucher program that could make these investments in public schools short lived must be opposed....
Gov. Shapiro should reject private school vouchers in his budget address
Private school vouchers are a very bad idea. As states around the nation adopt and expand these programs, we get a crystal clear understanding of the catastrophic impact that private school vouchers have on public schools AND the massive amount of tax dollars that...
New Cyber Charter School Approved by Shapiro Administration
On the afternoon of Wednesday, January 24th, Governor Josh Shapiro’s Department of Education quietly posted a letter addressed to Mark LeBlond informing him that the Department had granted his application for a five-year charter for the Pennwood Cyber Charter...
First Anniversary: Making the Right to Quality Education a Reality
February 7, 2024, will mark the one-year anniversary of the Commonwealth Court decision declaring Pennsylvania’s school funding system unconstitutional. We invite you to join us in the Capitol Rotunda at noon for an event with our partners from the PA Schools Work...
The Dangers of Private School Vouchers: Lessons Learned from the States
We invite you to join a webinar on Wednesday, January 24 at noon with experts in states that are experiencing the catastrophic impact of school voucher expansion. Sharon Kirsch, director of research for Arizona Save our Schools, and Kris Nordstrom, senior policy...
A major step forward on the path toward constitutional compliance
On Thursday, January 11th, Pennsylvania’s Basic Education Funding Commission (BEFC) approved a detailed and comprehensive report with recommendations that, if implemented, would bring transformational change to Pennsylvania’s school funding system and have a...
Thank you for a great 2023!
This was quite a year for public education in Pennsylvania and our team is very grateful for the work that we’ve done together. On February 7th, students won a historic victory in Commonwealth Court. Our collective efforts are building the statewide movement we...
The Good, Bad & Ugly in PA’s budget resolution
Lawmakers ended a five-month budget stalemate on Wednesday (December 13th) when they passed code bills that finished up the 2023-2024 state budget. Below we look at the good, the bad, and the ugly for K-12 schools in the School Code, House Bill 301. Please don’t...
NEW REPORT: PA voucher schools use tax $$ to advance discrimination
Education Voters of PA recently released a report that examines discriminatory policies and practices in private and religious schools that participate in Pennsylvania’s Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) school voucher program. Students receiving...
PA’s Beautiful Movement to Fund Public Schools
On Tuesday, November 14th, more than 250 Pennsylvanians rallied on the Capitol steps in Harrisburg in support of a state funding system that will ensure ALL children have access to the comprehensive, effective, contemporary public education they are guaranteed by the...
Public Education is on the Ballot on November 7
Public education is on the ballot on Tuesday, November 7. Make sure to vote in person,or if you have already mailed in a ballot, check your ballot status HERE to ensure it has been received. If you have any issues with your ballot being rejected, you should...
Submit a comment to the Basic Education Funding Commission
We invite you to join an important effort to help ensure that the Pennsylvania legislature and Governor Shapiro take action to develop a constitutional school funding system in the commonwealth. We are asking individuals to submit public comments to the Basic...
Help us grade the Basic Education Funding Commission
Join us in Harrisburg on Tuesday, November 14th, as we help prepare the Basic Education Funding Commission for its final report. We will gather on the front Capitol steps (rain or shine) with our giant report card to tell Governor Shapiro and members of the Basic...
Additional funding and transparency proposed for PA’s EITC/OSTC school voucher programs
n 2001, Pennsylvania enacted the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) school voucher program and funded it with $20 million. Over the past 20+ years, state lawmakers implemented a second school voucher program, the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit program...
Webinar: How School Vouchers Hurt Students
We are so excited that Dr. Josh Cowen, a national expert on school vouchers, will be joining Ed Voters for a webinar about school vouchers on Tuesday, October 10th at noon. Click HERE to register for the webinar. Dr. Cowen is a Professor of Education Policy at...
The Table for Constitutional School Funding in PA
On February 7, 2023, Commonwealth Court ruled definitively that Pennsylvania’s school funding system is unconstitutional. A month later Governor Shapiro stated during his budget address, “[The judge’s] remedy was for us to get around the table and come up with a...
Tell Governor Shapiro not to stack the Charter Appeals Board with school privatizers!
An article in the August 13th Philadelphia Inquirer (These backroom deals helped Gov. Josh Shapiro complete the Pa. state budget) set off alarm bells among advocates who support strong public schools in the commonwealth. This article reports Senate...
Your Role in Fixing PA’s Unconstitutional Public School Funding System
Join Education Voters of PA and our partners in the PA Schools Work campaign on Thursday, September 7th at 7:00 pm for a virtual event on fixing PA’s unconstitutional public school funding system and learn how the Basic Education Funding Commission can...
Join a movement to support a remedy for PA’s school funding lawsuit!
We learned on Monday, July 24th, that legislative leaders will not appeal the PA school funding lawsuit decision to the PA Supreme Court. The school funding decision stands! NOW ADVOCATES MUST STEP UP TO HELP ENSURE GOVERNOR SHAPIRO AND THE STATE LEGISLATURE WILL...