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Our Opinion: Pizza festival could pan out well for NEPA

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Remember When: Radio murder mysteries and more are long gone

<p>Last week, I signed a fair-funding formula into law, making Pennsylvania&#8217;s system of school funding fairer and more equitable.</p><p>Prior to the signing of this bill, Pennsylvania was one of only three states without a fair-funding formula.</p><p>The formula was created and unanimously adopted by the bipartisan Basic Education Funding Commission in June 2015. Having a formula in place will assure school districts that new funding will be distributed equitably and investments in education will no longer be determined by the influence of one legislator over another.</p><p>The fair-funding formula establishes a method for allocating new state funds to Pennsylvania schools. The formula accounts for district-based factors including the wealth of the district, the district&#8217;s current tax effort and the ability of the district to raise revenue. It also includes student-based factors such as the number of children in the district who live in poverty, are enrolled in charter schools and are English language learners.</p><p>This is a vital step in bettering our commonwealth&#8217;s education system. But this is not a cure-all for the challenges our schools face. In order to give students the education and skills they need to excel in a 21st-century economy, we need to make significant investments in our schools.</p><p>In this year&#8217;s budget proposal, I am seeking additional education funding, which would be distributed using the new fair-funding formula. Last year&#8217;s budget included a $215 million increase in basic education aid, a $30 million increase in high-quality early childhood education and a $30 million increase in the special education subsidy, which will be distributed using the special education funding formula. This increase, along with the new funding formula, will continue to restore Pennsylvania schools from the deep cuts of 2011.</p><p>These are important steps, but we still have work to do. We need to fully restore the education cuts of 2011 and make sure that all schools have the resources they need to prepare students to succeed. I am committed to fighting for our schools and working with the Legislature to get our schools back on track.</p><p>I look forward to continuing to work with legislative leaders in the coming weeks to address our challenges and reach agreement on a budget that is balanced, fixes the deficit and further invests in education at all levels.</p><p>We still have a lot of work to do in order to restore funding, but now we are closer to resolving the inequity in Pennsylvania&#8217;s school funding distribution.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Gov. Tom Wolf</p><p>Guest columnist</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Tom Wolf is the governor of Pennsylvania. For information, visit <a href="https://www.governor.pa.gov/" target="_blank">governor.pa.gov</a>.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Gov. Tom Wolf: New formula for school funding a good start, but more investment in education needed