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.