Sen. Smith named to special panel on education funding
State Sen. Matt Smith, D-Mt. Lebanon, wants to help repair Pennsylvania’s “broken” funding formula for education as one of 15 members on the newly formed Basic Education Funding Commission.
Smith said the goal of the legislative commission is to take “a really complex formula” for distributing basic education funds throughout the state and make it more transparent and more equitable.
“A lot of school districts justifiably are raising an issue about the inequitable, unpredictable nature and the lack of funding transparency in the basic education funding formula,” Smith said.
The commission, which had its inaugural meeting last week, will hold several hearings on the topic in conjunction with the Department of Education and the appropriations committees in the General Assembly. Recommendations are due next summer. The commission was formed as a product of Act 51 of 2014, and all recommendations will require legislative approval.
The 2014-15 state budget, drafted by Gov. Tom Corbett and House Republican leaders, invests a record $12 billion in state funding for students in early, basic and postsecondary education systems, according to a news release from the governor’s office.
Smith called that statistic misleading and argued that investment in basic education is $5.5 billion, which represents no change from the 2013-14 budget. He also spoke out against “budget tricks” used to close the projected $1.5 billion state budget deficit.
“In my opinion, there’s no more important issue in Pennsylvania than how we invest in education,” Smith said.
Smith said the basic education funding formula takes into account factors such as growth in school districts, average income in the district and local shares.
Smith was recommended for the bipartisan commission by Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa and appointed by Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati. Smith is the only appointee representing Allegheny and Washington counties.
Sen. Pat Browne, R-Lehigh, and Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery, were elected co-chairs of the commission.
“In a single word, this commission is about fairness,” Vereb said in a Pennsylvania Senate Republican news release. “I want to work to establish fairness so that students in every area of Pennsylvania have access to a quality education. We recognize tax dollars are a limited resource, and our responsibility is to find the best way to use the dollars that are available.”
Other members of the commission include Sen. Mike Folmer, Sen. Andrew Dinniman, Sen. Lloyd Smucker, Sen. Robert Teplitz, Rep. Paul Clymer, Rep. James Roebuck, Rep. Mark Longietti, Rep. Donna Oberlander and Rep. Mike Sturla.
Also on the commission are Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq, Secretary of the Budget Charles Zogby and Deputy Secretary of Education Nichole Duffy.