August 25, 2015
NEWS RELEASE
AFTPA President urges PA House GOP to stop ‘playing games’ with
education funding and the state budget
Ted Kirsch, President of AFT Pennsylvania, today issued the following statement responding to GOP lawmakers’ efforts to override Governor Wolf’s veto of the GOP-crafted budget.
“Today Pennsylvania House Republicans are playing a dangerous game with our children’s futures.
“Instead of working to pass a responsible state budget that puts children and families first, GOP House lawmakers are wasting time on meaningless political antics while 1.7 million children prepare to return to classrooms without one cent of state funding for books, technology and other vital education programs.
“Last November, Pennsylvania voters rejected a fifth cut-and-gut Corbett budget when they elected Gov. Tom Wolf, who promised to restore state funding for our public schools by enacting a natural gas drilling tax that Pennsylvanians support.
“If we want students and teachers to do their best work, the legislature has to do its job and make sure that every school has the resources it needs. Lawmakers need to save the games for recess and support of a sustainable budget that funds pre-kindergarten, K-12 and higher education fully and fairly and makes gas drillers and big out-of-state corporations pay their fair share of taxes now.”
AFT Pennsylvania represents 32,000 public, private and charter school teachers and school support employees; community college and university faculty and staff; and state employees across the commonwealth. AFT Pennsylvania is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers and AFL-CIO.