State Commission Seeks Fair School Funding

The Inquirer reports that the 15-member Basic Education Funding Commission, a bipartisan group designed to recommend a fair funding formula for the state’s public schools met for the first time on Wednesday.

“It’s a very complex issue; school districts are affected differently,” said former House member Kathy Manderino, who was recently tapped to lead a new 40-member coalition, including education, labor, churches and business groups, to push for fair school funding.

“It goes from urban districts’ ‘Can we open doors?’ to suburban ‘We can open doors, but at what cost to taxpayers?’ to distressed districts that lost a big funding stream,” she said. “Every piece of the system is feeling pain from not having had predictable and sustainable formula in a long time.”

The Patriot-News adds: “The commission’s proposals are non-binding, but are expected to receive serious consideration in a state where school funding has been a problem issue for many years.”