What $860 Million in Cuts Means to Your PA School District's Budget

Due to the $860 million cut to public schools that were part of Governor Tom Corbett’s state budget signed into law this past June, Pennsylvania school districts are in a funding crisis. They are cutting programs that work, privatizing school services, furloughing teachers and support professionals, and raising property taxes – just to balance their budgets. In fact, a recent survey from the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators and the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials found that class size was increased in nearly 70 percent of the Commonwealth’s school districts. More than 5,100 school employees, including more than 1,600 teachers, were laid off and almost half the districts reduced courses in foreign languages, music and other electives.

How do Pennsylvanians feel about these reductions? A September 2011 Terry Madonna Opinion Research survey showed that 69 percent oppose recent state funding cuts to public education, a nearly two-to-one margin. And state residents support investments in programs that work including tutoring students, reducing class sizes and making schools safer. By a similarly wide margin – 59 percent – of Pennsylvanians oppose creating a taxpayer-funded voucher system (euphemistically called Educational Opportunity Scholarships) for private, religious and parochial schools which would further drain funds from the public schools.

If cuts were to be restored, the respondents in the Terry Madonna poll favored “more individualized student attention and tutoring” (89 percent), reduced class sizes (88 percent), and “programs to help make schools safer” (85 percent). They also favored: alternative placement for disruptive/violent students (85 percent); “pre- and full-day kindergarten” (73 percent); and efforts “to coordinate school, community and law enforcement programs” (79 percent). To learn more about these programs and their value, take a look at Solutions That Work, a blueprint for education reform offered by the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

In short, the poll demonstrated that the vast majority of the Commonwealth’s citizens want to see common-sense, research-based strategies to improve education, and adequate, equitable resources for the state’s public school systems.

Policy Proposals, Controversial Ideas, and the Beginning of a Discussion

In addition to the Governor's budget, he also announced a number of other ideas that impact our schools, teachers and support professionals' jobs, and our communities. PSEA is looking forward to having a constructive, reasoned, and deliberate dialogue with the Governor and the General Assembly as these ideas take shape.

Some of the Governor's policy proposals include:

CAPS Supports PSEA, A Partner in Good Public Policy

The Governor's current budget and the policy proposals are a starting point for conversations. PSEA has a long and well-earned reputation as a partner with the General Assembly in dialogues about education policies that work for our students and as a strong voice against ideas that don't. PSEA will continue to advocate for students, schools, educators, and communities - working to ensure that PSEA contributes to the very best public education policy that can be achieved.

Contact your legislators to share your opinion on school budget cuts and ideas for school reform.

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