Gov. Wolf Visits Montco School To Celebrate Education Funding

NORRISTOWN, PA — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf made a stop in Montgomery County this week, visiting the Norristown Area School District to welcome new staffers and celebrate historic investments in state education funding.

The democratic governor from York County, who will soon be leaving office because he is term-limited, was in Norristown — the county seat for Montgomery County — on Tuesday, alongside elected officials, administrators and educators with the Norristown Area School District.

"I'm proud of the steps we've taken to bring new resources into our schools," Wolf said in a statement. "And I am deeply proud of the teachers all across the commonwealth who have worked so hard to give each student the education they deserve, even when the resources you needed to succeed were scarce."

The Wolf administration says it has made a historic $3.7 billion investment in public education during the past eight years, and that this year's state budget alone provides for a record $1.8 billion in public education investments.

Wolf spoke about the investments during his visit to East Norriton Middle School, during a day when new teacher inductions were taking place.

One of the school district representatives in attendance was Norristown Superintendent Christopher Dormer, who stated that the recent infusion of state dollars would be "transformative for our district."

"With millions of additional dollars that we can count on as sustainable revenue each year, we are able to onboard resources that will directly impact our educational program and will improve the lives of our students," Dormer said in a statement. "More importantly, we are now able to make significant investments in additional staff — positions that we have not been previously able to afford as a historically and dramatically underfunded school district — to better and more personally serve our families and to better meet the individual needs of all students."

Wolf has stated that proper education funding has been a top priority for him during his time in office.

He was first elected in 2015 and will soon be completing his final term.

Looking to succeed Wolf as governor are Democrat Josh Shapiro, the current state attorney general and a Montgomery County resident, and Republican Doug Mastriano, a state senator from Franklin County.

During this week's visit to Norristown, State Rep. Matt Bradford, a Democrat representing Norristown and nearby communities in the state House, said that Pennsylvania has been "getting it wrong" as far as education funding goes.

"Wealthier communities have adequately funded schools, but less affluent communities, like Norristown, could not, no matter how high they raised property taxes," Bradford said in a statement. "This budget significant and sustainable increase in state education funding takes a huge step toward fairly funding all schools in this commonwealth."

Bradford stated that with $5.5 million in new, recurring state funding, Norristown could make investments to help lower class sizes, increase educational opportunities for young people, and improve outcomes.