Public Education

By Marcy Dubroff

Public education is the cornerstone of this country. Unfortunately, here in PA, the Corbett administration has washed its hands of its responsibility to our public schools and, instead, enacted what it terms a "tax cut" that has effectively shifted the school funding burden to the local level. Local school districts now face the sad reality of cutting people and programs that most of us have always taken for granted -- librarians, arts, music, and sports. I don't view these as luxuries -- they are essential components of a well-rounded education.

The primary victims of these cuts are our children, who are not receiving the rich experience we should expect from our schools. Teachers are being forced into situations where they are teaching to ever-growing numbers of students, with fewer and fewer resources at their disposal. The ultimate victim, however, is our society. If our children don't receive a quality education, they will not be able to contribute to or be competitive in our increasingly global economy. And when that happens, we all suffer.

If elected, I will work to make sure that every child in the public school system receives a quality education. I will oppose the voucher system, which undermines the public education system by funneling public funds to private and religious schools. These funds should instead be used in our public schools to reduce class size, enhance teacher quality, and provide every student with books, computers, and a safe environment in which to learn.

I do believe that publicly funded charter schools, have the potential to facilitate education reforms and develop new and creative teaching methods that can be replicated in traditional public schools for the benefit of all children. However the funding formula for charter schools needs to be overhauled. In fact, Pennsylvania's Auditor General Jack Wagner has, on many occasions, criticized the existing formula in which the state's charter schools spend an average of $13,411 per student, against a national average of $10,000. And the $10,145 average cost of educating students at the state's 13 cyber charter schools far exceeded the national average of $6,500.

I agree with Wagner when he says that "with the tightening of school budgets and funding available to school districts throughout the state, Pennsylvania's flawed and overly generous funding formula for charter and cyber charter schools is a luxury taxpayers can no longer afford."