Mt. Lebanon’s state senator in Harrisburg has written an op-ed bemoaning the awful state of education funding in Pennsylvania, decrying the lack of equitability of state funds per student, unpredictable funding year to year and complaining that hard working families are having to foot more of the bill for education because the state is short changing school funding.
All in all a very serious charge that the typical uninformed taxpayer and parent will nod and say “that is right.”
That is sad because the senator is wrong on every point. The state’s education funding is based on the very criteria he recommends. Poorer districts get more per pupil than wealthier districts. For example Duquesne gets virtually all its funding of $18,300 per student from the state (78 percent). Mr. Smith’s home district of Mt. Lebanon gets only 18 percent from the state, with the local taxpayers footing the bill for the rest of the funding.
Schools rarely see state cuts in basic education funding from year to year. Funding is certainly not highly volatile as suggested by Senator Smith. Special federal funds can go away as we have seen with the stimulus funds. That is not the state’s fault.
If the state is to substantially raise education funding where will the money come from? Mr. Smith surely does not want to increase taxes on hard working families. So, it will be corporations and businesses—this in a state with one if the worst business tax climates in the country. Shale gas producers are the golden egg laying goose and the tax and spenders will no doubt be going after them.
The signal sent will be chilling to this still very young industry. The long term impact on Shale as well as other industries witnessing such a money grab is almost certain to further burnish the state’s image as unfriendly to business and we can watch the slow pace of long term growth get even slower—fewer good jobs, less income, and declining tax revenue gains.
Who will pay to keep funding levels up for instruction when weak revenue meets huge pension payment requirements? Is Mr. Smith doing anything to help alleviate that taxpayer nightmare? Pretending it doesn’t exist is not an answer.
No. It is always spend and tax and spend some more. Perhaps Mr. Smith would like to explain how Pittsburgh Public School spending is hurtling past $20, 000 per student per year while overall academic performance is abysmal and attendance unspeakably bad.
How does that represent the thorough and efficient education system the Pennsylvania Constitution requires? The problem is that the educrats and unions run the schools, and with the union’s right to strike, are able to coexist with expensive mediocrity.
