HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania trailed all but three states in the nation in state funding for education during the 2006-07 school year, according to a study released yesterday by the United States Census Bureau.
“Pennsylvania’s school funding system has placed an unfair burden on local property taxpayers for a generation, and the Census study shows just how far we still have to go,” Secretary of Education Gerald L. Zahorchak said. “In light of this report, it is all the more stunning that the Republican budget plans actually cut basic education funding hundreds of millions of dollars below the level the state provided in 2006-07, the year examined by the Census.
“Yesterday, we released our annual student achievement results showing record progress in every grade and in both and reading and math,” he added. “We cannot afford to lose momentum now.”
The Census Bureau report found:
• Only three states – Illinois, Nebraska and South Dakota – pick up a smaller share of total education funding at the state level than Pennsylvania.
• Massachusetts – which has the best overall student achievement levels in the country on the national report card, known as NAEP – spends over $2,100 per pupil more than Pennsylvania at the state level, getting higher achievement while shifting less of the burden to local taxpayers.
Governor Rendell’s budget plan includes a $418 million basic education increase to implement the second year of Pennsylvania’s school funding formula phase-in, and the budget approved by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives includes a $300 million increase for the coming school year. Using stimulus funds to increase the school funding formula, as these plans do, is a strategy to inject resources into the classroom while keeping local property taxes as low as possible.
In contrast, plans endorsed by the Senate and House Republican caucuses cut state funding for education by more than a billion dollars, using temporary stimulus funds to fill some of the hole while also making dramatic cuts to proven academic programs such as pre-kindergarten.
In addition, all Pennsylvania homeowners are receiving their second year of historic property tax relief this summer. The state has provided a total of nearly $1.7 billion in property tax cuts since the Taxpayer Relief Act took effect, and has completely eliminated school property taxes for approximately 110,000 senior citizens.
