To the Times:
Your recent editorial, “The cold, hard reality of education funding in Pa,” was spot-on in assessing the problems with education funding in Pennsylvania – until its suggested solution to immediately redistribute all state basic education funding through the state’s new school funding formula.
That “solution” would require a massive redistribution of existing dollars, slashing hundreds of millions of dollars from 357 school districts that educate nearly 813,000 students statewide. According to the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (the ones who must balance school budgets), the average cut would amount to $42,000 per classroom, requiring school districts to cut their already tight budgets by another 10 percent. Among those getting a windfall: school districts like Lower Merion, one of the wealthiest communities in the state, which already spends about $25,000 per student, more than twice what some of the losing districts have to spend.
Read the full letter here: https://www.delcotimes.com/opinion/letter-to-the-editor-be-careful-about-call-for-fixing/article_563b4be8-2dea-11e9-a778-67f76e9fad82.html