Friel supports bill to ensure equitable, quality education for PA children
Rep. Paul Friel June 5, 2024 | 11:06 AM
HARRISBURG, June 5 – State Rep. Paul Friel this week voted in committee to advance legislation (H.B. 2370) that would bring adequacy, equity and stability to Pennsylvania’s education funding system.
The bill is now ready for a full vote in the House, ahead of budget negotiations.
Friel, who is secretary of the PA House Education Committee, said the legislation represents the foundation of the recommendations made by the legislature’s Basic Education Funding Commission earlier this year.
“This week, the House Education Committee voted on a bill that would commit the legislature to phasing in adequate and equitable public education funding over seven years,” said Friel, D-Chester. “The bill also contains cyber-charter reforms, which are essential for ensuring the transparency, responsibility and accountability we should expect for taxpayer-funded education.
“This bill is a blueprint for providing all students in Pennsylvania with the educational resources they need, deserve and have a constitutional right to. The court ruled that we needed to close the gap for our students, particularly students in low-wealth school districts. This bill is a solid plan to do that.
“Providing an equitable and robust education for each and every student in the commonwealth isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do – socially and economically.”
The legislation would provide the following:
2024/25 Increases:
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- $728 million for chronically underfunded schools.
- $530 million in cyber charter savings.
- $200 million so every school district receives an increase.
- $136 million in property tax relief.
7-Year Totals:
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- $5.1 billion for chronically underfunded schools.
- $3.7 billion in cyber charter savings.
- $1.4 billion through the fair funding formula for all public schools.
- $955 million in property tax relief.
In January, the Basic Education Funding Commission approved a groundbreaking report providing a roadmap to finally fulfill Pennsylvania’s constitutional obligation to provide every child in the commonwealth the quality education they are guaranteed under the state constitution. These recommendations also recognized – for the first time – the inequitable, unconstitutional funding system that helped to create vast disparities in property taxes by school district and proposed meaningful reform across the commonwealth.
Before that, Commonwealth Court ruled last year that the General Assembly had not fulfilled its constitutional obligation to provide all children with a comprehensive, effective and contemporary system of public education – a system that does not discriminate against students based on the level of income and value of taxable property in their school districts.