EDITORIAL: State has duty to fund public school repairs
Jun. 27—Age, use and weather take a toll on buildings. And in Pennsylvania, politics is just as debilitating regarding old schools.
In 1973, the Legislature established the School Facilities and Construction Workbook program, known as PlanCon, through which the Education Department reimbursed local school districts for construction expenses that complied with state standards and limits.
Funding declined year after year during Gov. Tom Corbett's administration. Then, after the nine-month 2015-16 state budget impasse that began Gov. Tom Wolf's administration, the Legislature eliminated all PlanCon funding. It approved $2.5 billion in borrowing to cover projects already underway. But it enacted a moratorium on new applications that has been in place since 2016, with predictable results.
"We have schools across the state that are filled with mold, lead paint, asbestos, that don't have access to the internet, that are not accessible to students in wheelchairs ... ," said Democratic state Rep. Peter Schweyer, of Allentown, chairman of the House Education Committee.
The committee has passed, along party lines, a bill that Schweyer introduced to fund an expanded version of PlanCon and enable the state government to meet its obligation to ensure school environments that are conducive to learning.
The original PlanCon program covered only construction and reconstruction. Even though moratorium on new applications was in place in 2019, the Legislature expanded the program to include major maintenance projects involving heating and air conditioning, plumbing and other health and safety priorities.
Schweyer's bill further would expand project eligibility to include accessibility and technology.
Republicans who opposed the bill in the committee vote said they did not oppose the upgrades but wanted a statewide assessment of verified needs before proceeding, to avoid the long waiting lists and chronic underfunding that characterized the original PlanCon program.
A pending Senate bill would require the Education Department to compile such data, which should be fairly straightforward since each district readily could detail its own conditions.
Schweyer's bill would provide $250 million, but that would be just a start on the $15 billion to $20 billion worth of known projects statewide. Lawmakers should pass a systematic, long-term, fully funded project to make every public school safe and conducive to learning.
