Voice of the People: Voters Won’t Get Education Questions Answered Forum Cancelled Due to Lack of Candidate Participation

The funding and quality of K-12 education in Pennsylvania is a hot topic in our state legislature, with over $1 billion in new spending recently approved to address funding inequities. Voters deserve to know where Bucks County candidates for the Pennsylvania House stand on a topic that affects every student, parent, grandparent, taxpayer, and employer in the commonwealth. That’s why we are so disappointed that only six (6) of the twenty (20) Bucks County candidates for state legislature agreed to participate in a nonpartisan forum on education policy planned by Bucks County Community College (BCCC), the Bucks County League of Women Voters, and the Bucks County NAACP.  The event, originally scheduled for Sept. 12, was to be hosted and moderated by BCCC, with questions submitted by the public. Education is the cornerstone of strong communities and national prosperity, so we were sure candidates would welcome the opportunity for a serious discussion with voters.

The six candidates who agreed to participate were Anand Patel (D), 18th District; Candace Cabanas (R) and Jim Prokopiak (D), 140th District; Eleanor Breslin (D), 143rd District; Brian Munroe (D), 144th District; and Vera Cole (D), 145th District. With such a limited response, we had no option but to cancel the event. Why are candidates unwilling to address education issues with voters? Voters deserve to know their positions on such key topics as:

• The court mandate to adjust our education funding system to address funding inequities, including efforts to stabilize year-to-year fluctuations that impact poorer districts.

• School vouchers, including whether PA should provide tuition vouchers of up to $15K to cover non-public school tuition for children attending underperforming public schools.

• Charter schools, including cyber schools, and whether schools should be reimbursed when they pay for students to attend charters.

Reapportionment Map – Representative Assembly Districts (PDF)

Credit: Bucks County

In these polarized times, we expected candidates would want to participate in an in-depth, thoughtful discussion with concerned voters about these and other significant issues. Voters certainly deserve more than sound bites and deflection. We hope candidates will be willing to share their positions more openly in the League of Women Voters Guide, Vote411.org. While this is not a substitute for an in-person forum, it is a valuable source of information for voters.