A newly released spreadsheet on school funding shows Dauphin County schools suffering at the hands of a new formula supported by Democrats Tom Wolf and Rob Teplitz (D-Dauphin).
Teplitz was a member of the Basic Education Funding Commission, formed in 2014 to restore equity to the way the school funding pie was sliced. He endorsed the formula developed by the Commission in June of 2015, but now, has flip-flopped.
“The Governor and Rob Teplitz have abandoned the fair formula advanced by the commission in favor of the Governor’s own makeshift formula, and it is hurting Dauphin County schools,” said John DiSanto, candidate for state Senate.
Using the Governor’s newly conceived formula for driving out education dollars instead of the BEFC formula:
- the School District of Harrisburg would lose $887,813 this year.
- Central Dauphin would lose $302,873.
- Susquehanna Township School District would lose $77,371.
The big winners are Philadelphia and Pittsburgh schools.
“We need someone in Harrisburg who is looking out for our own school children, not Philadelphia and Pittsburgh,” said DiSanto. “The Democrats embraced a formula for fairness, then walked away from it, to the detriment of our own students in Dauphin County. We need someone in Harrisburg who will stand up to the governor, take a stand for fairness, and stand with our own schoolchildren and taxpayers.”