Pennsylvania State Senator Larry Farnese Blasts Republicans’ Plan to Slash $1 Billion in Title I Education Funding
“Their cuts amount to nothing more than a slash and burn budget.”

May 6, 2009 — From the Senate Floor Wednesday, Senator Larry Farnese and his Democratic colleagues expressed their displeasure with the budget Republican Senators have proposed, saying they rushed to create a budget that cuts crucial appropriations, services and programs.

During his remarks, Sen. Farnese urged his Senate colleagues to pass Governor Ed Rendell’s budget. He pointed to the more than $1billion Republicans want to cut from the governor’s proposed increases to school district Title I funding throughout Pennsylvania.

Locally, the School District of Philadelphia stands to lose more than $200 million in a combination of federal stimulus education funds, including those earmarked for basic education to help close a “funding adequacy gap” in K-12 education, which the Pennsylvania Board of Education identified last year.

“While I realize it is necessary for the General Assembly to make difficult cuts in order to balance this year’s budget, it is unfair to balance it on the backs of our children,” said the senator.

He explained, if the Republican version of the budget is enacted, several programs that would have provided quality learning opportunities for Philadelphia’s youngest students would be eliminated or reduced.

“The School District would be forced to shelve its plans to expand Head Start by another 500 slots, and dismantle ‘Bright Futures,’ which offers quality pre-school programs to 3 to 4 year old toddlers,” said Sen. Farnese.

Existing programs that help beef up students’ performances in reading and math are also at risk, among many others.

Sen. Farnese summed up the cuts as a threat to the academic progress the School District of Philadelphia has made over recent years.

“The Republicans’ plan cuts short any hope the District had of continuing the progress it already made and forces it to take a step backward,” he said.

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