Quality Education for Every Student: Recommitting Pennsylvania to Public Education

By Allyson Y. Schwartz

As governor, Allyson Schwartz will reverse cuts to public education and provide funding through a Marcellus Shale drilling tax for every Pennsylvania 4-year-old to have access to prekindergarten.

A Strong Start--

To ensure that students start school ready to learn, Allyson Schwartz will make a transformational commitment to early education by establishing universal, quality preschool for 4-year-olds, expanding access to full-day kindergarten, and reducing class sizes in kindergarten through third grade.

Schwartz believes that success in school begins with early education. Decades of research proves that quality preschool narrows the achievement gap, increases high school graduation rates, decreases the need for special education, helps prepare children to succeed in today's competitive economy, and reduces health care and social welfare costs over time. Early education also provides one of the best returns on public investment. Studies have found that every dollar invested in early education generates a $7 to $8 return.

As governor, Schwartz will launch Keystone Kids, a landmark initiative to provide universal access to voluntary prekindergarten to all 4-year-olds within a decade.

In the State Senate, Schwartz successfully fought to expand access to full-day kindergarten. As governor, Schwartz will make full-day kindergarten accessible to every child in Pennsylvania and ensure that school districts have the support that they need to achieve this goal.

Increasing State Support for Public Education--

In her first term, Schwartz will reverse nearly $1 billion in cuts to state support for public education by growing the economy, re-prioritizing the existing budget, and drawing upon new resources from the natural gas tax.

Schwartz has already released a plan to enact a moderate, 5-percent severance tax on natural gas production that will raise billions of dollars to support transformational investments, especially in public education and early education.

The quality of a student's education should not depend on where the student lives in our state. As governor, Schwartz will partner with all stakeholders to determine the necessary level of state support, to ensure that all students receive a quality education. She will establish a transparent funding formula that recognizes student and school district characteristics, considers local effort, and provides sustained, adequate, and fair funding to every school in the Commonwealth.

Pennsylvania needs a governor who understands that economic success begins in the classroom. Allyson Schwartz knows that a well-educated workforce will attract world-class businesses to our Commonwealth, and that a robust economy is vital to keeping our young people living, working, and raising their families in Pennsylvania. As the mother of two sons who attended and graduated from Philadelphia's public schools, Allyson Schwartz also knows personally how important good schools are to Pennsylvania's families and to our children's future.