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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 28, 2014 11:42 AM |
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| From: | Representative Todd Stephens |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Establishing the Local Effort Equalization Fund (LEEF) as a supplement to the Basic Education Funding (BEF) formula to assist taxpayers in school districts receiving less than 35% of their funding from the Commonwealth |
As I pointed out during last year’s budget debate, our school funding formula creates vast differences in the way school districts across Pennsylvania are funded. The Pennsylvania Constitution requires the General Assembly to provide for a “thorough and efficient” school system for our children. However, while some districts receive as much as 78% of their total school funding from the state, others receive just 10% of their school funding from the state. Obviously those school districts receiving less state funding are forced to fund their schools through locally-raised property and earned income taxes. The attached spreadsheet was prepared with data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education and shows the percentage of total funding each school district receives from the state to detail the disparity. To help address the gross inequities in our current school funding formula, I’m proposing establishing the Local Effort Equalization Fund (LEEF). This fund would provide a supplement to the Basic Education Funding formula (BEF) to assist local taxpayers in school districts receiving less than 35% of their total funding from the state. School districts would be required to use these funds to reduce property taxes for their residents. According to the most recent data available, 211 school districts would benefit from this supplement. The attached spreadsheet also includes a column (“Local Effort Equalization Fund Distribution”) with estimates for the amount of supplemental funding each district would receive. The LEEF would be funded by transferring $250 million from the Race Horse Development Fund (RHDF) for the purposes of funding this supplement to the BEF. There's a reason horse racing is called "The Sport of Kings." Some of those who have won enhanced purses provided by the RHDF include Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Abdulaziz and countless, out-of-state, millionaire racehorse owners. I believe our children are more deserving of this money than these recipients. We have a Constitutional obligation to fund our schools; not to provide economic incentives for one segment of one industry. Rather than funding the pastime of the world's wealthy and elite, I believe these funds should be used to fulfill our Constitutional obligation to our children and to help reduce the burden of local property-taxpayers in 211 school districts. Please join me in supporting this important piece of legislation. |
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| View Attachment | ||
Introduced as HB2216