susan-spicka

Pa. advocates push for new Level Up funds ahead of 2023-24 budget negotiations

BY: and - March 14, 2023

Still, some advocates worry the governor’s spending plan — which ends the Level Up special funding program that prioritizes the state’s 100 poorest school districts — doesn’t go far enough to meet the constitutional mandate for a “thorough and efficient” education.

COMMENTARY

DeFoor’s clumsy audit papered over the truth about school districts’ finances | Opinion

BY: - February 1, 2023

The claim that school districts are moving money from one account to another is a nefarious act is misleading at best and disingenuous at worst.

COMMENTARY

Extremists undermine faith in our schools. We owe it to our kids, community to speak up | Opinion

BY: - April 7, 2022

Gather your facts, gather your friends, and make your voice heard at your local school board.

COMMENTARY
Teacher and students in a classroom.

This budget season, lawmakers have to put underserved students first | Opinion

BY: - February 2, 2021

These inequities are baked into Pennsylvania’s current school funding system. Without action they will continue to grow worse.

COMMENTARY

This Election Day, vote like your kids’ future depends on it | Opinion

BY: - October 18, 2020

This is a high-stakes election for public school students. Make sure you're armed with the information you need to make the best decision you can.

Pennsylvania got $104M from the feds to expand internet access to students. Much of it is still unspent 

BY: - August 5, 2020

With the start of classes weeks away, the Wolf administration can't say when they'll spend the money or how they'll dole it out.

‘Death by a thousand cuts’: Controversy in Lebanon County school district  highlights Pa.’s education challenges

BY: - July 3, 2020

For Palmyra, it’s become an annual debate. The issue of whether the school board should raise property taxes on this Lebanon County community’s approximately 3,700 homeowners has become a yearly ritual.  The board has voted to raise taxes on those same residents seven times in the last eight years, according to PA Schools Work, a […]

COMMENTARY

To help all students, Pa. needs to establish a distance learning task force | Opinion

BY: - April 19, 2020

Our schools are built for physics experiments and art class, marching band and drama club, group projects, pep rallies,  class trips, and so much more.

COMMENTARY

Wolf, lawmakers need to think big on education funding | Opinion

BY: - February 4, 2019

By Susan Spicka In his annual budget address to lawmakers this Tuesday, many public education advocates are hoping that Gov. Tom Wolf will propose, and that the Legislature will support, a bold new investment in public education that includes at least $400 million in basic education funding, $100 million in special education funding, and $10 […]