Letter to the editor: Funding our public schools

There are three bills dealing with public school funding that the Pennsylvania Senate must address. Contact Sen. Kim Ward to let her know you support House Bill 1422, the cyber charter reform bill.

In 2021-22, these schools pulled $1 billion away from our public school districts. Almost one-half of that amount went for marketing and advertisement, such as sponsoring professional sports teams. That is how they are spending your tax dollars, your property tax. Forbes states that Pennsylvania has long been a wild west for cyber charter schools with overfunding, poor graduation rates and poor oversight. The Senate must ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely for the stated purpose and not to make CEOs richer.

Also, the General Assembly must release the money in Level Up funding to use for Pennsylvania’s most underfunded school districts. If the senators really want to help students in poorly performing schools, this is one way to do so.

In addition, the House must vote “no” on the PASS Scholarship (Lifeline Scholarship Vouchers). We taxpayers cannot be expected to additionally fund private and religious schools. The Commonwealth Foundation has raised millions to defeat any legislator who doesn’t vote for their voucher scheme. We must remain vigilant against “Big Money” that wants to use vouchers and school choice as a way to privatize education. Privatizing essential services always increases the cost and decreases the service.

And, by the way, the $100 million for private school vouchers could be used to bring the poor performing public schools up to standards.

Chris Baldonieri

Latrobe