Gov. Wolf Sets Sights On School Funding

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — With just a year and a half left in office, Gov. Tom Wolf’s primary focus will be convincing the Republican-controlled Legislature to modernize how state aid is distributed to Pennsylvania’s public schools — a shift that could carry a price tag of $1 billion. Doing so would direct more money to Pennsylvania’s poorest school districts — including districts with the state’s biggest proportions of Black students — as well as to growing suburban districts whose share of state aid reflects early 1990s demographics or political compromises in the Legislature. In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, the Democratic governor also said he remains dedicated to two initiatives opposed by many Republicans: adding tolls to nine major interstate bridges in need of upgrades and forcing fossil fuel-fired power plants to pay a price for the carbon dioxide they emit. On the proposed bridge tolls, Wolf said he hasn’t seen a better idea to fill the growing highway construction-funding gap worsened by stagnating gasoline tax revenues. On the other, the centerpiece of his agenda to fight climate change, Pennsylvania’s coal-fired power plants have been closing anyway, Wolf said, and his plan at least promises aid to coal communities that lose plants in the future. Wolf, 72, is term-limited and must leave office in January 2023.