By unanimous vote Wednesday, the Executive Council of AFT Pennsylvania endorsed Tom Wolf for Governor. AFT Pennsylvania members are already enthusiastically coalescing around Wolf for his innovative, proactive vision to lead Pennsylvania and restore support for public education.
“Tom Wolf will reclaim the promise of public education, making it his top priority,” said AFTPA President Ted Kirsch. “His vision to create a five-year plan to fund community colleges and state-owned and state-related universities, ensure retirement security for all Pennsylvanians and support policies that create good jobs and strengthen the middle class is exactly the breath of fresh air Pennsylvanians have been searching for and sorely need.”
"I am grateful to AFT Pennsylvania for their support and I am committed to investing in Pennsylvania's system of public and higher education in order to train our future workforce and strengthen our middle class," Wolf said. "Tom Corbett has gutted Pennsylvania's public schools, forced 20,000 teachers out of the classroom, and caused over 70 percent of our state's school districts to increase class sizes. I will make education a priority because we have a constitutional obligation to provide every child with a great education, but also because it is the right and smart thing to do. A good public education system will drive a healthy, vibrant economy, and that's good for everyone in Pennsylvania."
Wolf has said he would push for a state education funding formula, provide additional money for high-poverty school districts and has proposed enacting a five percent natural gas extraction to increase the state’s share of education funding and take the pressure of local property owners.
He is a vocal critic of Gov. Corbett’s $1-billion education funding cut and what he has called “Corbett’s mass expansion and deregulation” of charter schools at the expense of neighborhood public schools. Wolf supports local control of school districts.
“After four years of Gov. Corbett’s scorched earth policy towards public education, there is a tremendous amount of work to be done to ensure every child gets a great public school education,” Kirsch said. “Make no mistake, the 35,000 AFT Pennsylvania members across the state will be making phone calls, knocking on doors and spreading the word in order to make sure public education has an advocate in the governor’s mansion.”
"Pennsylvania deserves a governor who will work for all the people," Kirsch added. "Tom Wolf is the leader we need to fight for children, families and our communities."