Mastriano's Proposed Education Funding Cuts Decried By PA Educators During Montco Visit

LANSDALE, PA — If Republican State Sen. Doug Mastriano becomes governor, the North Penn School District stands to lose $116 million in school funding, as well as lose 58 percent of the district's workforce, under proposed education funding cuts put forth by Mastriano, according to state and local school leaders.

Educators in the North Penn School District in Montgomery County joined Pennsylvania State Education Association President Rich Askey on Thursday during a press conference to highlight what they claim are extremely concerning cuts to the state education system if Mastriano gets into office.

Mastriano, a Republican state senator representing a district in south-central Pennsylvania, is challenging Democrat and Montgomery County resident Josh Shapiro, the state's current attorney general, for the governor's seat soon to be vacated by Tom Wolf, who is term-limited and cannot run again after finishing his second term in office.

The PSEA says an analysis it conducted found that Mastriano's education plan proposes to cut public school funding by more than $12 billion annually, which could result in the loss of nearly 119,000 education jobs across the commonwealth, and which would more than double teacher-to-student ratios in Keystone State schools.

"This is PSEA's analysis. And we did it because the students, parents, and school employees of Pennsylvania deserve to know about this, and because Sen. Mastriano won't tell us," Askey said in a statement.

Sean Devlin, a North Penn teacher, said job losses could hit teachers, counselors, learning support staff, speech and language pathologists, occupational therapists, bus drivers and cafeteria aids under Mastriano's proposed cuts.

The PSEA said that its analysis was conducted after Mastriano conducted a March radio interview with station WRTA in which he said Pennsylvania should reduce per-student school funding by $10,000 annually, and during which he also called for the complete elimination of local school property taxes, which is where the bulk of education funding comes from for Pennsylvania's public school districts.

"This extreme proposal would be devastating to Pennsylvania's public schools and 1.7 million students," the PSEA states on its website. "Imagine a public education system with half the teachers, counselors, nurses, and support staff who teach and serve our students."

The PSEA created a section on its website dedicated to Mastriano's proposed education funding cuts. It can be found here.

According to Askey, the PSEA offers the methods it used and other information in crafting its analysis about the candidate's education plan.

Those attending Thursday's news conference warned of the dire consequences should Mastriano's plan become a reality.

"Not only will we have more students in each class, there would be no early intervention, no speech, no reading support, no support for special education," stated North Penn teacher Erica De Vose.

Christian Fusco, a member of the North Penn Board of School Directors, said the district would likely have to reduce its staff by as much as 58 percent under Mastriano's plan.

"That would double class sizes overnight," he said in a statement. "We would have to cut back on investing in innovative programs like our engineering program, which is nationally recognized. We would have to cut back on student mental health support. We would have to forgo building infrastructure upgrades and eventually see these buildings fall into disrepair."

The PSEA said that it was planning to host a total of 12 media events between Sept. 12 and 16 to highlight the proposed Mastriano education funding cuts.

Other education leaders across Pennsylvania have also called into question Mastriano's proposed school funding cuts.