HARRISBURG – Reaction to the Basic Education Funding Commission came from two area state leaders. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Scott Martin of Lancaster & Berks Counties said the focus should remain on how to make the system stronger and more accountable to improve educational outcomes for students – not just commit more dollars to the system. Setting arbitrary benchmarks without any regard to the taxpayers’ ability to pay is disrespectful to hardworking citizens. PA House Republican Leader, Lancaster County Rep. Bryan Cutler reacted that the report continues the false choice that providing only more state funding will improve PA’s public schools. He added that despite years of bipartisan support for historic amounts of increased funding for public education, testing metrics show PA students are not climbing out of this learning deficit fast enough.

REP. BRYAN CUTLER

SEN. SCOTT MARTIN