Franklin County Area Legislators Oppose School Funding Bill (PA)

July 1, 2010

Local legislators fear the special education bill sent to the Senate in Harrisburg will favor urban school districts through a yet-unspecified funding formula.

The House of Representatives voted 173-25 last week to change the funding formula for special education. The proposed change would make special education funding similar to the formula used for general education funding: Each district would receive money based on what percentage of its student population has special needs. The formula would also take into consideration what percentage of a school’s population is in poverty.

School districts are required to provide special education services for any student who needs them, regardless of the cost. Some students require classroom aides or enrollment in other schools that specialize in certain disorders, such as autism.

The current funding format, which was put into place in 1991, funds each district on the assumption that 16 percent of a district’s student population requires special education.

The bill, HB 704, did not receive any support locally, with negative votes from Reps. Todd Rock, Rob Kauffman and Mark Keller, all Republicans from Mont Alto, Chambersburg and Landisburg, respectively.

Kauffman said Wednesday from Harrisburg that he voted against the changes because they didn’t provide any specific numbers that would indicate what the school districts in the area he represents would receive. He said he supports the idea of changing how special education is funded, especially with schools seeing an increasing amount of students that need additional services due to special needs.

"The idea behind this is something that we support. But the devil’s in the details and the details aren’t in there," Kauffman said.

Additionally, he raised issues with how the numbers would be developed, stating that the Pennsylvania Department of Education and other "bureaucrats" in Harrisburg would be working to devel op the funding breakdown.

Keller released a statement last week with his reason for voting against the bill: The proposed formula would support urban school districts while the rural schools would suffer. Keller stated that sponsors of the bill were asked how the changes would benefit schools in central Pennsylvania and the sponsors were unable to provide an explanation.

"The students and families throughout Perry and Franklin counties deserve the same level of funding that students in other regions of Pennsylvania receive. Unless this new formula would provide equitable distribution of state funds to all school districts, I cannot support it," Keller said.

Kauffman said the bill was just recently released to the Senate’s Education Committee and that there currently isn’t a time frame for when it could be introduced for a vote.