COVID-19 outbreaks and staffing shortages in our area schools forced navigation to a brave new world filled with rising positive tests, staff and student quarantines and an endless back-and-forth between in-person, hybrid and remote learning. Schools already are dealing with strained budgets as they try to sidestep further turmoil in the years to come.
Public schools have been precariously funded for years due to Pennsylvania’s state funding formula. With COVID-19, we have a school funding crisis. School districts are expected to lose about $1 billion in local funding this year due to the economic slowdown, and COVID-related expenses continue to mount. Safe in-person instruction requires additional cleaning, PPE, and ventilation upgrades; remote learning often requires schools to provide expensive learning tools like Chromebooks and WiFi for families who can’t otherwise afford them.
State lawmakers recently passed a budget that maintains last year’s level of state funding for school districts, but which does not address the impending local funding shortfall. Congress must now intervene before it’s too late and pass a comprehensive emergency relief package, giving our students and teachers the resources to succeed in the next academic year as our communities continue to rebuild.
Carol Hodes
Ferguson Township
Chair of the AAUW Education Committee
