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October 29, 2009
Over the past several
weeks you have contacted my office in
support of funding for educational programs
in Pennsylvania. I’d like to update you on
the final budget recently passed by the
Legislature and signed by Governor Rendell.
Early Childhood
Education:
In a continuing commitment to early
childhood education, we succeeded in
maintaining level funding for Pre-K Counts
($86.4 million), the Head Start Program
($39.4 million), the Accountability Block
Grant ($274 million) and Early Intervention
($173.5 million). Previous budget proposals
called for cutting Pre-K Counts and Head Start
funding almost in half.
Basic Education:
I’m pleased to say that the budget includes
a $300 million increase in the Basic
Education Subsidy over last year, thanks in
part to federal stimulus funds. School
districts throughout the 19th Senatorial
District can expect to see an increase of
between 2 and 5.2 percent in their basic
education funding.
The budget maintains
$13.6 million in funding for Science: It’s
Elementary, an important program that brings
hands-on science lessons into the classroom
and benefits thousands of students each
year.
The budget also includes
$8 million in funding for the Dual
Enrollment Program, which allows high school
students to take college courses for college
credits, or credits toward their high school
diploma. While this represents a $2 million
decrease from last year, other proposals
called for eliminating the program outright.
Special
Education:
The budget maintains support for special
education at the current level ($1.027
billion), in addition to the $361 million in
total federal stimulus funding that will go
directly to school districts for special
education.
Nonpublic Schools:
The budget increased funding for the
private-school textbook program to $27.2
million and for services to nonpublic
schools to $89 million. Overall, the budget
calls for an aggregate increase of almost
$1.6 million in funding for nonpublic
schools.
As you know, this year’s
budget negotiations were exceptionally long
and arduous. The level of funding for
education, which amounts to more than a
third of the total budget, was a major point
of contention.
I was frustrated by
several measures in the final compromise,
including the cuts to library funding. Rest
assured that I will work to restore library
funding in next year's budget.
There is nothing more
important than the education and growth of
Pennsylvania’s young people. That is why I
will continue to work to see that support
for education is always a top priority in
state budget decisions.
Thank you for contacting
my office and as always, please don’t
hesitate to e-mail me at
andy@pasenate.com with any questions,
concerns or comments that you may have. Sincerely,
Andrew E. Dinniman
State Senator – 19th District
Minority Chair – Senate Education Committee
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