Join the Pennsylvania School Funding Campaign Today!
The Pennsylvania School Funding Campaign: Successful Schools...Successful Children...Successful Communities
There ’s no more important investment of public funds than in the education of our children. And, the state has no greater responsibility than to assure that every child has a high quality public education. But Pennsylvania ranks near the bottom nationally in the state share of spending for public education and is over-reliant on local property taxes as a funding source. The end result is that a child’s education experience varies greatly simply because of where he or she lives. That’s not fair and the time has come to make a change.
Click here to help ensure an adequate and equitable education for every child in Pennsylvania!
Last year the PA General Assembly commissioned a costing-out study to learn what it costs to educate a child in Pennsylvania regardless of where they live or what their unique learning needs are. The study found a $4.3 billion gap between what we currently spend and the adequate funding level required to ensure academic success for all students in our state.
Now the time has come to urge state policymakers to act on the costing-out study and to enact the goals of the Pennsylvania School Funding Campaign:
- to implement and fully finance by 2013 a comprehensive, systemic and sustainable education funding plan based on the core principles of adequacy, equity, efficiency, accountability and predictability, and
- to allocate sufficient funds in the 2008/09 budget – at least $1 billion – to make a significant start toward implementation of a new school funding formula based on the costing-out study.
The Governor’s recent budget address included some important elements of a new funding system along with a suggested $291 million increase for basic education. While the Governor is on the right pathway, we need to make a bigger step forward and we need your help.
Make adequate and equitable education financing in Pennsylvania a reality!
For more information or to contact the Pennsylvania School Funding Campaign, please contact:
800 N. 3rd Street, Suite 408
Harrisburg, PA 17102
Phone:
(717)260-9900
Website:
www.paschoolfunding.org
Sounding a Voice for Pennsylvania Afterschool and Youth Development Programs:
Tools and Resources to Continue Your Advocacy Efforts
- Three fact sheets focused on Pennsylvania advocacy information, Pennsylvania after 3 PM and afterschool/youth development strategies.
- Federal and state advocacy budget timelines
- Media outreach and tips to help effectively advocate for your program.
Download your copy of the afterschool toolkit now.
Be A Voice for Children
The Pennsylvania Children's Advocacy Network mobilizes Pennsylvanians who are concerned about children's issues and willing to act on their behalf. Organized and led by PSAYDN partner, Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, PA-CAN members are trained in policymaking, communications, and community mobilizing to raise their voices in support of children in the public policy arena.
PPC supports PA-CAN members by sharing regular policy updates, issuing instructions, or "action alerts," for contacting lawmakers and other timely activities that are effective in advancing public policies, and sponsoring regional meetings on critical children's issues. To get involved, click here.
PSAYDN Advocacy Fact Sheet
A part of PSAYDN’s mission is to promote sustainable, high-quality out-of-school time youth development programs through advocacy. If you would like to view PSAYDN's advocacy fact sheet, click here.
Pennsylvania Latchkey Kids from Working Families Vastly Outnumber Those in Afterschool Programs
More than one-quarter of Pennsylvania children of working families are unsupervised in the afternoons, according to data by the Afterschool Alliance. The data are from the second wave of detailed analysis of the Alliance’s groundbreaking household survey, America After 3 PM, funded by the J.C. Penney Co., Inc. The data focus on working families – those in which both parents or the single parent holds a job. Read More...House Democratic Policy Committee Measures Quality of Afterschool in Pennsylvania
On April 20, The House Democratic Policy Committee held a public hearing in the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh on after school programs in Pennsylvania. Read More...For a copy of testimonies presented to the House Democratic Policy Committee, please click on the following links:
Kisha Bird,
Project Director,
Pennsylvania Statewide Afterschool/Youth Development Network
Alana S. Kulesa,
Youth Programs Manager,
Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh/
Afterschool Alliance
Ambassador for the Commonwealth
Vic Papale,
Executive Director
A + Schools
Amy F. Snider
Senior Planner
Allegheny County Department of Human Services
Office of Community Services