Last night’s, the League of Women Voters of Indiana County held a special program to discuss financing public education in rural areas.
On the panel for this discussion was House Majority Leader Dave Reed, State Representative Kristin Phillips-Hill, Susan Spicka of the group Education Voters of Pennsylvania and ARIN executive director James Wagner. One of the questions asked was about the basic education funding formula, and the “hold harmless” provision that guarantees the same amount of funding received by the school district in the previous year, regardless of changing factors. Phillips-Hill, who is part of the education committee in the state house, said that the “hold harmless” provision was something she was against because of the disparity in funding.
Reed said if the provision was removed, it would have a detrimental effect on schools in Indiana County, saying that most of the districts would close, with the exception of the Indiana School District, and the IASD would be in financially worse shape.
Other topics covered included how public schools are funded and how rural school districts state-wide are suffering from funding shortfalls.
