HARRISBURG – Republican Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill of York county and Democrat Rep. Mike Sturla from Lancaster county have been appointed to serve as co-chairs of the Basic Education Funding Commission. This bipartisan group is tasked with developing and recommending a new formula for distributing state money for education to Pennsylvania school districts. Earlier this year, Commonwealth Court President Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer ruled that the current education funding system does not meet its constitutional requirements. Phillips-Hill said “I am humbled to be appointed to this position and ready to tackle our commonwealth’s education funding system headfirst.” Sturla also commented, “I look forward to taking on this task with Sen. Phillips-Hill and our fellow Commission members. The issue of adequate and equitable education funding is daunting, but we cannot continue to fail generations of students that are shortchanged in their opportunities for equal education.” The Basic Education Funding Commission was established in 2014, under former Gov. Tom Corbett. The commission is tasked with developing and recommending a new formula for distributing state funding for basic education to the General Assembly. Put on hold in 2020 due to the pandemic, the reconstituted commission will begin meeting regularly to update recommendations from the 2015 Commission report as well as address the issues raised in the Commonwealth Court ruling.
SEN. KRISTIN PHILLIPS-HILL
REP. MIKE STURLA