The state and federal governments are not doing enough to help rural school districts. In fact, they seem to be going well out of their way to force those school districts to bankrupt the education of their students and cause irreversible financial damage to its residents.
    Let’s put this in perspective — each year the state and federal governments put more mandates on the local school districts. And each year, they have failed to come up with adequate funding to pay for these initiatives.
    Take the No Child Left Behind Act. A great proposal and one that this newspaper is in favor of. However, what the federal government failed to do was adequately fund it.
Instead, it told the school districts — in no uncertain terms — that “you will reach these benchmarks that we have set for you, and by the way, we will not pay for it.”
    The same can be said at the state level. Even when the state increases funding for our rural districts, it isn’t enough to cover the increased expenditures that they are facing.
    Athens School Board President Ed Gorman summed it up well at Tuesday’s board meeting. One year, the Athens district received an $300,000 increase in state aid — however, that amount wasn’t even enough to cover the district’s electricity costs.
    This is completely unacceptable. And it seems to us that some of our state and federal legislators are more interested in helping the more urban areas — i.e. the larger voting blocs — than they are in helping the lifeblood of this country, the rural areas.
    Take in account the “grand plan” that Rendell unveiled for his education budget for the next fiscal year.
    Under that budget — which has not been approved by the state legislature — the Athens Area School District would receive of 3.42 percent, or $359,769, in its state subsidy next year. The Sayre Area School District would receive a 2.89 percent increase, or and additional $158,880.
    If this budget is passed, the Athens Area School District would receive $3.5 million in state aid, while the Sayre Area School District would receive $1.58 million from the state.
    Let’s compare this with the Reading School District, which is slated to receive a 17.59 percent increase in state aid — which equates to an additional $15.2 million. That school district would receive $91.25 million from the state, if the governor’s budget is approved as is.
    Some other facts about the City of Reading — it is the county seat of Berks County, it has a population of 83,463 and it is the fifth largest city in the commonwealth after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie.
    Our state and federal legislators need to start re-evaluating how they fund school districts. They need to increase the amount of funding that rural school districts receive by a substantial amount — not by single percentage points.
    To do anything else is to destroy the future of this country’s youngest generation.
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    State Rep. Tina Pickett’s Harrisburg office can be reached at (717) 783-8238. The phone number for her Sayre district office is (570) 888-9011 and the phone number for her Towanda district office is (570) 265-3124. She can also be e-mailed at tpickett@pahousegop.com.
    State Sen. Roger Madigan’s Harrisburg office can be reached at (717) 787-3280. The phone number of his Towanda district office is (570) 268-4313.
    The Pennsylvania Governor’s office can be reached at (717) 787-2500.
    U.S. Rep. Chris Carney’s Washington, D.C., office can be reached at (202) 225-3731.