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Pennsylvania education funding commission extends report deadline

Pennsylvania education funding commission extends report deadline

The state Basic Education Funding Commission, which is charged with developing a fair funding formula for Pennsylvania, needs more time to finish its report.

According to the legislative action that created it, the 15-member commission was to have produced a report by today. But Tuesday afternoon, the commission said it was extending the deadline a week.

In a phone interview, state Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery, a co-chair of the panel, said commission members have been working together, but it has proved challenging to synthesize information gathered amid the transition from the administrations of former Gov. Tom Corbett and current Gov. Tom Wolf.

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“We’re going to take another week,” he said. “We’re going to give every effort to get there.”

He continued, “All the members of the commission have been working fluidly together. We all understand the goal is to provide for a fair funding formula for the commonwealth.”

The report will be a recommendation, not a final decision. The final formula will be up to the Legislature and Mr. Wolf.

In an email, Charlie Lyons of the Campaign for Fair Education Funding said, “It’s important that the commission produces a solution to fix Pennsylvania’s broken basic education funding system. The commission should take some extra time if that’s what it takes to get it right.”

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The campaign is a coalition of about 50 organizations.

In a report earlier this week, the Education Law Center in Newark, N.J., gave Pennsylvania a D in 2012 and 2010 and an F in 2011 for the way it distributes money to public schools.

In March, the U.S. Department of Education said Pennsylvania’s school districts have the most inequitable spending for poor students in the nation.

Education writer Eleanor Chute: echute@psot-gazette.com or 412-263-1955 or on Twitter @Eleanor_Chute. Karen Langley: klangley@post-gazette.com or 1-717-787-2141 or on Twitter @karen_langley.

First Published: June 10, 2015, 4:00 a.m.

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