House Bill 2370, passed last Monday, was a Democrat version of the school funding formula that fails at providing the transformational change needed to boost classroom success for all students. We are aware of last year’s ruling by the Commonwealth Court that our education funding system is unconstitutional. I fully support a new school funding formula and believe many school districts would benefit from one.

What I don’t like is how the House Democrats rolled out this legislation and its contents in a matter of only 24 hours. The document is 84 pages long. The bill was automatically voted out of committee with no amendments. Democratic leadership blocked the ability to amend the bill on the House floor on second consideration. Typically, for a major bill like this, the bipartisan process should take days or even weeks.

I voted against House Bill 2370. This was a partisan, political move by Democrats. There was no time to address the inadequacies that are currently in our education systems.

In addition, this bill runs short on property tax relief. We’re spending an additional $5 billion on public education and not one dime is going toward property tax relief. This is a big issue for me.

This legislation needs to provide adequate funding for students and their school choice as well as ensure the additional dollars will provide property tax relief for homeowners across the Commonwealth.

We cannot throw money at systems without requiring some accountability. We must invest in our students. I am hopeful the Senate will see through this legislation, and we will come up with a fair funding solution.