WEST CHESTER (January 31, 2022) — State Senator Carolyn Comitta, a member of the Senate Education Committee, released the following statement in support of the Full Funding Plan announced today her Senate Democratic colleagues:
“Pennsylvania has a historic opportunity to make a landmark investment in our future. I stand with my Senate Democratic colleagues in support of the Full Funding Plan – the largest and most equitable education budget in Pennsylvania history.
The pandemic has highlighted a legacy of chronic underinvestment and inequality in our school funding system. It has exacerbated the impacts of that legacy – a widening achievement gap, a crisis of youth mental health, toxic and unsafe school facilities, staffing shortages, and an inexcusable lack of resources available to students, teachers, and families in our poorest school districts.
Now, we have an opportunity to begin to fix it. With billions of dollars in federal assistance on hand combined with strong revenue projections, we anticipate a year-end balance of well over $6 billion. Investing $3.75 billion to fix and staff our schools, implement the fair funding formula that the legislature has already endorsed, address impacts to academic growth and mental health largely stemming from the pandemic, is the right thing to do. And we should do it right now.
This plan requires no tax increase. It doesn’t drain our savings or call for incurring debt. Rather, it makes use of federal funds that were meant to invest in our economy, our educational system, and our safety net programs to help ensure a brighter future for all Pennsylvanians.
Investments in education have significant and sustained economic impacts in terms of job and career growth, innovation, and human capital. Education is the force that inspires the imagination and stokes the ingenuity of the next generation – the generation that will drive our economic competitiveness and success through the 21st Century and beyond.
For too long, the Commonwealth has been known as home to one of the worst school funding gaps in the nation. For too long, this disparity has significantly hindered the academic, career, and overall life goals of entire generations of students and families. And it’s been a drain on our economy.
Today, the question is very simple. In the words of children’s rights advocate Marian Wright Edelman, it is not ‘whether we can afford to invest in every child; it is whether we can afford not to.’
The Full Funding Plan is the path to robust, well-equipped, fully staffed, and safe schools for every child. It takes us further toward that goal than any other budget before it.
Next week, Governor Wolf will give his budget address, officially kicking off weeks of hearings, meetings and lobbying in Harrisburg. During that time, I will continue to work with my Senate Democratic colleagues to ensure that our voice is heard. Pennsylvania does not have a ‘money problem.’ And we should not have a ‘priorities problem.’ I am ready to work across the aisle to ensure that the future of our students, communities, and economy is and remains a top priority, especially given the significant funding on hand, the tremendous issues at stake, and the historic opportunity that awaits us.”
Read more at pasenate.com/fullfunding