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The 2016-17 budget provides a significant step forward for Pennsylvania schools.
It will help promote student success, and improve access to a high-quality education – regardless of a child’s ZIP code. Working with our partners in the Legislature, we are moving Pennsylvania forward by investing in our children.
Over the past two years, Gov. Tom Wolf has championed our schools, fighting for increased education funding. As a result of his advocacy, this budget provides an additional $200 million in basic education funding.
The spending plan also includes a $30 million increase for early childhood education to preserve the number of slots in proven early learning programs such as Pre-K Counts and Head Start, a $20 million increase for special education, and a more than $10 million increase for early intervention. This funding will help restore even more districts from the deep funding reductions of 2011.
The new education funding included in this budget will be distributed using the bipartisan “fair funding formula,” which was signed into law in early June. Prior to the passing of this bill, Pennsylvania was one of only three states that did not have such a formula in place, contributing to massive inequities in schools and hitting the most vulnerable students the hardest.
Investing in our schools and our children is Gov. Wolf’s top priority. Working with the General Assembly, he secured historic statewide increases over the past two fiscal years, including $415 million in basic education funding, $60 million for early childhood education, $50 million for special education, and $14.6 million for early intervention.
Specifically under this budget, the Wilkes-Barre Area School District receives an additional $1.7 million for basic education and more than $158,000 in increased funding for special education. Combined with the increases secured under the first 2015-16 budget, the district has received a total increase of more than $3.7 million for basic and special education in two years. The Wolf administration will keep working to invest in Wilkes-Barre’s future.
Additionally, this budget provides a nearly $40 million increase for higher education, which will be split among the 14 state-owned universities, the four state-related universities and the 14 community colleges – a 2.5 percent boost over last year.
That means that in less than two years, Gov. Wolf already has achieved an overall investment of $81.4 million for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and state-related schools, and $16.4 million for community colleges.
These are vital steps that will give our students the resources they need to succeed in school and, eventually, the workforce. Pennsylvania has a constitutional obligation to provide a thorough and efficient education to all students, and Gov. Wolf and the rest of his administration, including myself, will continue to fight for positive education investments in the years to come.