KUDOS

Kudos to the Intell's Jeff Hawkes for his substantive and thoughtful March 21 column "Smart money is on new plan for school funding."

Hawkes describes how state aid for educating school children has shrunk over the decades to a point where Pennsylvania is 47th in a ranking of states for school funding equity. He cites as an example how $17,184 is spent per pupil in the suburbs of Philadelphia, but only $6,805 in Erie.

Hawkes praises Governor Ed Rendell for "proposing true reform – an actual funding formula, one that lifts up the neediest students."