HARRISBURG (January 14, 2025) – Education advocates from the PA Schools Work campaign gathered at the Capitol Rotunda today to present their “Fill It In Four” proposal, calling for a $4 billion investment in public education over the next four years. The proposal aims to address the remaining funding gap identified in last year’s bipartisan budget and mandated by the Commonwealth Court’s ruling on Pennsylvania’s unconstitutional school funding system.
The press conference featured education leaders, legal experts, and educators who emphasized the urgent need to provide adequate funding for all Pennsylvania school districts. The proposed investment would enable schools to implement essential improvements in educational services while ensuring sustainable and predictable funding for the future.
“The Fill It In Four plan isn’t just about numbers – it’s about providing real, tangible support that teachers like me need to help our students succeed,” said Afia Lewis, a 6th grade teacher at Bell Avenue Elementary School in the William Penn School District. “One billion dollars per year over four years would mean smaller class sizes, updated learning materials, adequate support staff, and the ability to provide the quality education that every Pennsylvania student deserves.”
Kristin Volchansky, Advocacy Director for In This Together NEPA, highlighted the ongoing challenges faced by schools: “We still hear everyday from parents, educators, administrators, and school directors about the impact underfunding is having on their students and districts. Schools in northeast PA and across the Commonwealth continue to grapple with the rising costs of education services, the need for more educators, counselors, and paraprofessionals in the classroom, and school facilities that are out of date or unsafe.”
Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg, Senior Attorney at the Public Interest Law Center, emphasized the legal imperative: “This is where we are. An unappealed judgment. A bipartisan law that demonstrates there remains a $4 billion hole. And our kids, right now, in underfunded schools, with their futures on the line.”
Marc Stier, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Policy Center, stressed the urgency of the funding timeline: “Every year we fall short of the additional $4 billion in adequacy spending is one more year in which we fail to meet our moral and constitutional responsibility to the children of the state.”
Susan Spicka, Executive Director of Education Voters of PA, highlighted the real-world impact of these investments: “Some of what we learn this year may not seem worthy of headlines, but for students in school buildings who will be able to get help when they need it instead of sitting alone and frustrated or who will have access to career tech programs and school counselors, or who will experience art class and libraries for the first time ever, these investments are life changing.”
“Years ago a state lawmaker told me that his goal was to leave Pennsylvania better than he found it,” Spicka added. “Every lawmaker who supports investments to reach a constitutionally compliant public school funding system will do this.”
A recording of the press conference is available at: https://www.facebook.com/PASchoolsWork/videos/493469466688633