Legislators hit kids below the belt, twice

The legislature is delivering a one-two punch aimed squarely at kids.

The first blow strikes PA’s youngest learners the hardest.

In a no holds barred approach, the House is taking action to shut down Philly’s pre-K.  In a 17-9 spilt vote, the PA House Commerce Committee just voted in favor of a bill to kill Philly’s soda tax. 

Although the vote to push the bill forward was mostly along party lines, it included two Democrats, showing that the soda companies and supermarkets are throwing enough money around to sabotage the future of Philadelphia’s children.

The bill would throw 2,000 kids out of pre-K and layoff more than 250 workers in pre-K.

After extensive community consultations, hearings and a rigorous debate and vote at City Hall, the state legislature is pulling the rug out from under us—a massive power-grab that should alarm every municipality.

PCCY testified before the Senate on this very issue. We told them that our constitution protects us from “Big Brother” government and gives them no power to interfere with the decision to tax soda unless they either imposed a soda tax at the state level or amended the constitution to take away our local powers. Yet, they insist upon knocking us down.

The second blow to kids is perhaps even more shocking. In the Fair Funding lawsuit parents and school districts brought against the state to better fund schools, PA’s legislature remains obstinate and unrepentant as they jeopardize our kids’ education.

In a victory, just this week, the Commonwealth Court sided with the kids when it ruled that this historic case can go to trial.  The Court is giving us a chance to argue that every PA child has a right to a quality education and just because the state has adopted a formula doesn’t mean the case is fixed.  Undoubtedly, this fight for education is far from over.

What, then, does PA’s Speaker of the House, Mike Turzai, say?  Students “have no fundamental right to equality in education.” Adding constitutional insult to self-inflicted injury, Senator Scarnati argues that there is no need to go forward with the lawsuit because the fair funding formula fixes the state’s school funding problem.

Only about 7.5% of the state’s basic education funding to schools actually goes through the formula. Give us a break!

Given the facts, it would be hard to believe that the Court wouldn’t rule in favor of our kids. But a victory alone might not call the fight. Instead of expediting fair funding for kids, the legislature could drag their feet or, even worse, by introducing yet another bill, ultimately throwing in the towel for students.

Both damaging blows demonstrate that as much as we need the court to weigh in for children, we have much more to do in order get the legislature to support our kids.

If there was ever a time to go to Harrisburg and support our kids, it is now. Join us on May 22nd in Harrisburg and tell them our kids’ education is our top priority.