Governor Tom Corbett Deserves an F for Public Education Funding

The eve of Governor Corbett's annual budget address is a good time to reflect back on his performance in the area of public education funding.  Corbett often likes to claim that he has substantially increased spending on K-12 education spending and denies having made cuts.  A simple review of the facts shows why he deserves an F:

• Despite his claims Corbett substantially reduced state education funding by $355 million having nothing to do with federal stimulus dollars.  He likes to discuss the increase in the area of 1 line item (Basic education Funding) and ignore the many other line items that were eliminated or partially eliminated.
• $655 million of federal stimulus money in the education budget was eliminated by choice.  It is noteworthy however that the federal stimulus money for the corrections budget was replaced by state funds.  Jails were given priority over education.
• Corbett terminated the state funding formula we had established under the bi-partisan costing out study.  We are now 1 of only 3 states in the country without a state education funding formula.  School districts are forced to go through their budget season playing a guessing game unsure of what exactly to expect from Harrisburg. 
• Corbett and the legislature have ignored the calls from the Auditor General's office to properly fix the charter funding formula.  It is estimated that we are overpaying about $365 million a year to charter schools.
• In 2011 PA fell to 47th in percentage of public education funded by the state.  As a result districts have been forced to rely further on property taxes. 
• The state has offered little to no mandate relief and in fact has continued to increase unfunded mandates on local school districts.
• Across PA, class sizes have increased, teaching positions and support staff have been eliminated, and education programs have been cut.