Governor Tom Wolf toured the Scranton School District’s newest program Monday after remarking on the state’s $1.8 billion dollar historic investment in education included in 2022-23 budget.
"I'm not sure there's anything more important for Commonwealth to do than invest in education," he said.
Wolf spoke in the district’s new STEMM academy. STEMM in the Scranton School District has an extra M and stands for Science, Technology, Engineer, Math and Medicine. The district transformed the former library on the second floor of Scranton High School into the academy for students beginning in seventh grade.
The academy will offer new pathways to higher education and job placement, said Katona Miller, the district's program supervisor.
"With the rapid growth of jobs in these fields both locally and within our country, I'm proud that our district has recognized the need for this type of programming and has worked diligently to implement this academy, expanding the opportunities that we can provide for our students," Miller said.
Scranton, put in financial recovery by the state in 2019, used increases in funding — some from the American Rescue Plan — to be able to offer the program.
"Think of what this means for Pennsylvania, having more and more of our students, of our children take these courses is going to make our future a lot better," said Wolf.
The governor greeted some of those students and their families before speaking Monday.
"If a child in Scranton doesn't get a good education, my life is diminished," said Wolf, a York County resident. "It's one less person who's going to come up with a cure for a disease ... that's one less person who's going to come up with a great killer app or a product or a service that's going to make my life better. We have to invest in education, it is a shared responsibility that affects all of us."
On average the 500 districts in Pennsylvania will see their funding increase by 8 percent in the 2022-23 budget, according to the state.
Locally, under the new Fair Funding Formula, the 108 school districts in the 21 counties in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania will receive around $121 million more in basic education funding.
The budget also includes a $225 million increase for Level Up, additional funding that targets the 100 most in-need school districts.
In Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania, including Lehigh County, 22 school districts received the additional funding, totaling around $46 million.
Scranton received an additional $5.1 million this year through Level-Up. Mid Valley and the Carbondale Area School District in Lackawanna County also received Level-Up funding this year.
Eight school districts in Schuylkill County received Level-Up, the most of any county in the region, totaling almost $7 million.
Statewide, the budget includes a $100 million increase for special education; $79 million increase for early education through Pre-K Counts and Head Start; and $220 million for public higher education.
State representatives Mike Carroll, Kyle Mullins, Thom Welby and Bridget Malloy Kosierowski and state Sen. Marty Flynn joined Wolf at Scranton High School.
Carroll's district covers not only parts of Lackawanna but Luzerne County. He said the additional education funding for Pre-K and for higher education is critically important.
"As we stand here today in Scranton schools ... I think about the Wilkes-Barre School District and I think about the Hazleton School District, those districts that are going to be the beneficiaries of the Level Up," he said. "They have every reason to be happy and in thrilled with the passage of this budget. The other districts that don't qualify for Level Up have every reason to be happy too ... because the increase in basic ed funding and special ed funding is critically important to those districts."
