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House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted:	October 9, 2015 09:29 AM
From:	Representative Stephen Bloom
To:	All House members
Subject:	2015-16 Appropriation – Textbooks, Materials and Equipment for Nonpublic Schools

Since Governor Wolf’s June 30 veto of the 2015-16 general appropriations bill (HB 1192) and his September 28 veto of the four-month emergency funding bill (SB 1000), state and federal tax dollars have continued to accumulate in our state treasury. The governor’s vetoes have blocked these funds from reaching schools and human service providers, putting students and vulnerable citizens in peril. Vital programming has been cut and, in some cases, halted. Each day the crisis deepens, children lose education, workers lose jobs, and people in need lose help. Therefore, I will soon introduce the following and several other freestanding appropriation bills to fully release critical blocked funding for education, health, and human services, in amounts at or very near those proposed by the governor in his 2015-16 budget and passed by the General Assembly in HB 1192: A bill (HB 1584) to appropriate $26.751 million for the acquisition of Textbooks, Materials and Equipment for Nonpublic Schools, the same amount included in HB 1192. As you know, the Commonwealth has a long tradition of appropriating funds in our budget to help our nonpublic schools acquire nonsectarian textbooks, instructional materials and equipment which will be loaned free of charge to students enrolled in grades kindergarten through 12 in nonpublic schools. The textbooks may be loaned to any child who is enrolled in a nonpublic school, who is a resident of the Commonwealth, and whose tuition is not paid by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is projected that over 200,000 students will be eligible to participate in the student textbook, instructional materials and equipment program for nonpublic schools during the 2015-16 school year. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important and urgently necessary legislation.

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