Isaacson appointed to new Basic Education Funding Commission

HARRISBURG, Aug. 16 -- State Rep. Mary Isaacson, D-Phila., was appointed to become a new member of Pennsylvania’s Basic Education Funding Commission.

The commission was established within the Public School Code, and is reestablished with members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly every five years.

Members of the commission evaluate the distribution of basic education subsidies and the fair funding formula, used to provide public school funding, to ensure that it provides adequate public education, as enshrined in Pennsylvania’s constitution.

The commission will also be charged to see if cost-saving measures can be achieved, and to rely on experts at public hearings to determine the best fiscal route for schools to take.

“So much has changed economically across Pennsylvania since the Basic Education Funding Commission was convened in 2015 and it is our students who are quite literally paying the price due to the zip code they live in,” Isaacson said. “I am excited to serve on this commission to not only make the fair funding formula more equitable, but to fight to ensure that all of our education funding in Pennsylvania is actually passing through that formula. It is past time that our legislature stop shortchanging our kids.”

The commission will issue their first report in November 2023.