School Days Arrive -- as does new heights for spending. Mostly on buildings. Bad for brains and budgets.

Public schools are important to me and my family. My dad is a retired teacher with the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Likewise plenty of others in my family. I come from a teaching family, to say the least.

Everyone is in the back to school swing. Our kids resume school on Thursday. Other districts have already begun.

Where has all the money gone?

Libertarian Party of PA responds to Policy Report on Education

For more information contact: Doug Leard (Media Relations) or Michael Robertson (Chair) at 1-800-R-RIGHTS / chair@lppa.org

Harrisburg, PA – A recent policy report by the Commonwealth Foundation has provided additional support to the Libertarian Party’s spring analysis of government school spending.

In an April media release, the LPPa reported that “According to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Report Card on the Schools, school districts in the five-county southeast Pennsylvania region increased spending per student by an average of 32%, or $3372 from 2003 to 2007. During the same period, average SAT scores dropped 32 points.”

According to the Commonwealth report, over the past two decades, per student spending for public education has increased 72% after adjusting for inflation while student SAT scores have declined. The report attributed some of this increase to an increased percentage of school budgets being diverted from instruction to construction of facilities.

Michael Robertson, Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania (LPPa) Chair, commented "While Governor Rendell may believe more money is the answer to solve the problems of the current system of public education, the evidence is clearly to the contrary."

While Pennsylvanians seek tax relief and particularly property tax relief (the primary funding mechanism for our schools), Rendell has just signed a budget that increases education spending by $760 million, over half of the $1.4 billion increase in general fund expenditures.

Concludes Doug Leard, LPPa Media Relations Chair, “government run education is crumbling before our eyes. While costs spiral out of control, quality remains stagnant. The only way to improve quality and reduce costs is to provide parents with more educational options. Government has failed. It’s time to dis-empower politicians and empower parents with responsibility for their children’s education.”