Poconos attacked by garbage

To the Editor:
First off know one thing: No attack from Washington, D.C. or Harrisburg is going to change my stance. I am absolutely and unequivocally standing with my taxpayers, students, educators, parents, friends and family, against 24 years of massive under-funding from Harrisburg to our taxpayer-ravaged school districts.

I got involved in this office to (1) fix the way we pay for K-12 education; (2) fix the school funding formula; (3) get our fair share from Harrisburg; and (4) adopt cost-saving efforts to reduce government over-spending.

Every day we experience this massive underfunding with twice as many foreclosures of any county in Pennsylvania and with some townships still showing 60 percent of their home mortgages underwater.

Today, friends, family, supporters and non-supporters received a mailer from Washington, D.C., called Garbage. I want to take a moment and tell you about garbage.

After 12 months in Harrisburg, I believe I’m qualified to tell you exactly what Garbage is.

Garbage is:
Twenty-four years of Harrisburg politics underfunding 180 School Districts by $937 million! That's Garbage. The 12-month bipartisan Basic Education Funding Commission released its unanimous recommendation for a fair and equitable school funding formula in June, 2015, showing 180 school districts underfunded by more than $937 million, a year!

Garbage is:
The Pennsylvania Department of Education, charged with uniformly leading 500 school districts, instead adopts a partial budget that gives one school district an unwarranted $57 million political payback, while very-poor school districts like Reading, Wilkes-Barre and Scranton; and taxpayer-crushed school districts, like East Stroudsburg, Pocono Mountain and Stroudsburg get nothing.

That's garbage!
The state budget facts are:

The passed budget increased total preK-12 Education funding $405 million. But instead of a fair allocation, the Department of Education sent $57 million to one school district and Reading, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, East Stroudsburg, Pocono Mountain and Stroudsburg school districts got nothing but crumbs.

The budget supported by America Works would increase taxes on working families in Monroe County, do nothing to lower school property taxes and contains no severance tax language at all.

For too long, Harrisburg has been controlled by politicians, lobbyists and special interests, instead of fair, scientific and fact-based solutions. It’s time to stop!

So America Works, whoever you are. This is David Parker from Monroe County, Pennsylvania!

I’m standing with my taxpayers, my students, my educators, my parents, friends and families.

I'm not going to vote for a tax increase that doesn’t provide a dollar-for-dollar reduction in school property taxes. I’m especially not going to vote for a tax increase that sends all the money to one school district.

I’m not going to stop working to get fair funding for all Pennsylvania families.

I’m not going to stop working to get rid of the school property tax system and replace it with something better.

If anyone has any questions, you can call me anytime. My phone is 570-420-2940. My email is dparker@pahousegop.com. I’ll be pleased to speak and meet with you at your earliest convenience.

PA Rep. David Parker
East Stroudsburg