PA Principals Association is one of the educational organizations that has been invited to the table for periodic education policy updates from the Governor’s office. I attended the first briefing under the new administration this morning and we were provided with some insights into the upcoming Governor’s proposed budget. Sarah Galbally, Deputy Secretary of Policy and Planning in the Office of the Governor, shared the following:

• Much of the attention has been dedicated to the crafting of the budget and the budget address on March 3, 2015.
  

•  The budget will reflect the Governor’s commitment to education and it will be his number one priority.

• The Governor is an advocate for a fair funding formula and the budget will also address this area and his office is very interested in working with the Basic Education Commission on a formula.

• Beyond funding, the Governor will explore issues with accountability for new funding leading to better outcomes for students, early childhood education, career and technical schools, higher education and the PlanCon process.

Each organization had an opportunity to share its major platform issues and PA Principals Association forwarded the following:

• Fair Education Funding Formula.
• Pension Reform – we pointed out that the increases have had a devastating impact on our schools and our leaders are faced with both program and people cuts which directly affect our students.
• Charter and Cyber School Funding.
• Mandate Relief.

Dr. Paul M. Healey
PA Principals Association Executive Director