Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

After graduating from Penn State, I became a teacher in West Philadelphia as part of a
community program similar to Teach for America. My wife Jennifer, who like me is a Penn
State alumnus, is an pre-K teacher at a local 4-Star Keystone Star school (where our youngest
daughter Erin attends). Our oldest daughter Sarah is a 1
st
grader at Lehigh Parkway Elementary
School in the Allentown School District and is doing great there. One could certainly say that
education is important to my family!
We have an incredible number of amazing, talented children in the Allentown School District
who are learning and growing and doing things that make us all proud. With true cooperation
between ASD, parents and students and those in our community coupled with the right
leadership in Harrisburg, we can make real strides towards the only goal that truly matters --
making sure our children are prepared for the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow.
As your State Representative, you have my word that I will use every tool at my disposal to put
our children in the best position to succeed. More specifically, I will:
-
Invest in Pre-K programs
. It is undeniable that the earlier a child begins to learn in a
structured environment, the more likely he or she will be to find success in school and in
life. Wildly successful programs like Pre-K Counts and Keystone Stars have improved
the quality of early childhood education while making it more affordable and thus more
available to people regardless of their ability to pay. A new generation of better learners
is already coming of age because of these efforts and we must continue and strengthen
these programs more.
-
Get more resources in the hands of our school districts
. It may be true that money
cannot cure all that ails our 501 school districts, but it is also true that they cannot be
successful without the proper resources either.
o
Go back to basics
. Pennsylvania has a responsibility to provide a quality public
education for all of our children. We have a legal obligation in addition to our
moral obligation to make sure our children have the resources to succeed.
Teachers, books, technology and safe buildings are the hallmarks of a quality
educational system and PA must make this happen.
o
Prioritization matters
. We need to do a much better job of funding our most at-
risk districts to ensure proper class size and educational opportunities for all of
our kids.
o
Fairer funding of charter schools
. No one will argue that parents certainly
deserve the chance to send their kids to schools that they think will be best for
their children. But we shouldn't be funding charter schools using property taxes
nor should we be funding schools that have little accountability.
o
Support EITC
. The Educational Improvement Tax Credit helps fund so many
programs that are tremendously beneficial to our kids. From the Allentown Art
Museum and Community Bike Works, from Community Music School to the
Grace Montessori School, so many children have benefited from this program.

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