Principles
"What the best and wisest man wants for his child, the whole community should want for its children."
- John Dewey
The following principles guide Good Schools Pennsylvania:
Student Learning and Access to Quality Public Education
- Access to quality public education must be available to all students.
- All children can succeed in school when given the appropriate support.
Public Engagement and Public Education
- Grassroots engagement in education reform and in advocacy for equal access to quality public education is crucial to the success of Pennsylvania's public schools.
- Youth engagement in this process is critical to cultivating and sustaining a culture of civic participation in public education.
- Strategic alliances with other interests and organizations are needed to implement policy change in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
- Sustained reform requires continual monitoring both of legislators and school districts by local citizens.
Funding and Revenue Streams
- A statewide school funding formula must be based on objective data analyzing the programs and resources needed to help all children achieve an established set of high academic standards. The revenue stream for support of public education must be adequate and predictable, enabling school administrators and school boards to engage in long-term planning.
- Revenue plans that shift money from one tax to another with no net gain for our schools do not serve the goal of achieving equity and adequacy in school funding.
- A sound funding formula for public schools should include the following elements as defined by the National Conference on State Legislatures: equity, adequacy, efficiency, predictability, and accountability.
Community and Economic Sustainability
- High quality public education is critical to the economic sustainability of local communities and the Commonwealth.
- A community's quality of life and attractiveness as a location to raise a family, or support business opportunities and job growth, is greatly influenced by the quality of its local education system.
- Residential property values, so important to the funding base of public schools, are directly related to the quality of the local public schools.