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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 7, 2014 01:53 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative James R. Roebuck, Jr. |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Educational Assistance Program (EAP) |
| In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation to re-establish the Educational Assistance Program (EAP) and funding. Enacted in 2003, EAP provided eligible school districts with funding for tutoring and remedial services for those students in eligible public school entities that were not meeting the academic standards on state assessments. This program provided extended learning opportunities to those students and was designed to boost student achievement and help all students succeed. And in fact, in the following years, academic performance did improve for these school districts. Funding for this program started at $25 million in 2003-04 and reached its funding peak in 2006-07 at $66 million, where it supported tutoring in 175 school districts and Career Technical Centers. Difficult financial times decreased its funding to $46.7 million in 2010-11. Ultimately in 2011-12 the tutoring program funding was eliminated. This left tens of thousands of students without the necessary resources needed for remediation as a result of failing the existing and new Pennsylvania Core Standards and state assessments. The new standards and assessments, recently adopted by the State Board of Education in late 2013, also include a requirement that students pass three Keystone Exams in Algebra I, Biology and Literature or a similar project based assessment beginning with the class of 2017 to graduate from high school. I support stronger education standards because I believe increased academic rigor for all of our students is a step in the positive direction. However, my main educational concern with these standards is the need to adequately and equitably provide the necessary state funding for all children in our state to meet these new, more rigorous academic standards. Without this funding, many students may not graduate from high school. My legislation takes the first step in restoring the state’s commitment made in 2010 to provide the necessary funding for all students to meet the new state standards. Under my legislation, I plan to rebuild upon the momentum that began with the enactment of this essential Educational Assistance program and expand the scope of the tutoring program and focus on providing the much needed tutoring and remediation services for our students to be able to successfully pass the newly adopted Keystone Exam graduation requirement. There will undoubtedly be costs that school districts will incur to meet not just the testing of students, but also to provide the required remediation that many students need to meet the higher academic standards. I believe the state must do its part and make a commitment to fund those needed remediation services for students. Without this commitment, more of our students, especially in financially distressed school districts like the School District of Philadelphia, will not meet the graduation requirement in these new Chapter 4 regulations. Therefore, this legislation will also propose that the EAP be funded at a level of $67 million for 2014-2015, an increase based on the needs of our students. Finally, if the necessary funding levels are not appropriated to provide the remediation services under this legislation, then the graduation requirements under the Chapter 4 regulations would be suspended until the necessary funding is provided. I am proud to offer this Legislation and I invite you to join me by co-sponsoring this measure. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office at (717) 787-7044. |
Introduced as HB1949