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Lou Barletta and John Yudichak: SHINE after-school program engaging more students and discouraging gang involvement

Letter to the Editor: Give Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland ‘fair hearing’

The Hanover Area School District Board of School Directors and Superintendent Andy Kuhl thank the more than 950 people who attended, listened and participated in the regional town hall meeting that we hosted on March 21.We also thank state Reps. Gerry Mullery and Eddie Pashinski, Mark Grochocki (representing state Sen. John Yudichak) and Cassandra Coleman (representing Gov. Tom Wolf), the seven area superintendents and LIU No. 18 executive director and the various school district board members from the region for attending.Your voices and frustrations were finally heard in Harrisburg as Gov. Wolf chose not to veto House Bill 1801 and it became law on Easter Sunday. We believe this was a direct result of the people coming out to individual school meetings and culminated by our regional meeting.As happy as we are to hear about HB 1801 becoming law, we are equally disappointed in the veto by Gov. Wolf of the accompanying fiscal code bill. The effect of this veto is two-fold. This veto of the bill that included instructions for the distribution of extra funding using the unanimously approved bi-partisan formula (BEFF) is holding up an additional $260,000 for Hanover Area alone. Second, this vetoed bill contained a bond issue borrowing that would have funded fully the PlanCon dollars that we were promised and are owed. For Hanover Area this amount is $210,000, and for the 11 Luzerne County school districts the total is a staggering $6.1 million!The new BEFF is proven to be a fair, equitable and sustainable formula that correctly identifies pockets of poverty, English Language Learners and special education students as well as school districts with a heavy reliance on local tax collections as receiving more of a fair share of future state subsidies. This will give the local school districts the ability to rely less on local property tax collections.Please continue to contact our local legislators and the governor and tell them that the new Basic Education Funding Formula needs to be approved and implemented now and for the future years.Thomas Cipriano Jr.Business administratorHanover Area School District

Letter to the Editor: Keep pressure on state officials to release timely and appropriate school funding