Questions for Democratic Candidates – Pennsylvania’s 17th Senatorial District
(Answers side by side in alphabetical order of candidate names)
1. Public schools continue to be underfunded in our Commonwealth. What do you propose to do to meet the needs of our children and invest in our future?
Cappelletti |
Leach |
| In addition to significantly increasing the amount of funding the state invests into our public education system, charter schools must be held accountable to parents and taxpayers through regulation reform. This will help to ensure that funding for charter schools is fair and transparent while going towards schools providing quality education. As Senator, I will also fight to reform Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program. This will bring much needed tax revenue back to the state instead of subsidizing private school tuition for families choosing to leave the public-school system. |
The underfunding of our public schools is a chronic problem. We rely on an antiquated and anachronistic local funding mechanism (the property tax) for almost two-thirds of our school funding. This means the area of greatest need are the areas of fewest resources. The state is supposed to be the great equalizer, but that just doesn’t happen in PA which only funds 35% of our education budget, as opposed to a national average of 55%. And our poorer schools are the ones who lose out Recently, we passed a new funding formula which should help. The problem is that only about 10% of state dollars are pushed out through that new formula. So the first thing we have to do is dedicate more dollars to the new formula. We can do this by either finding new revenue sources, which tend to be elusive, or by taking the hard votes to tax ourselves at the state level sufficiently to pay for adequate schools and to take the burden off of local property tax payers. I have repeatedly said that I am willing to take that tough vote. |
2. How would you address climate change if elected?
Cappelletti |
Leach |
| One of the first steps to combatting climate change is to properly fund the agency whose mission is “to protect Pennsylvania’s air, land, and water from pollution and to provide for the health and safety of its citizens through a cleaner environment.” The Department of Environmental Protections has faced decades of cuts to its budget resulting in insufficient staff to properly care for our environment. If not passed this session, I will fight to bring a Green New Deal to Pennsylvania and end our reliance on the oil and gas industry.Fighting climate change means developing a renewable energy economy. |
Climate change is the single most consequential problem we have. It is literally an existential threat to our eco-system, the diversity of our animal population, our food supply and our very existence. We have to take this problem far more seriously than we do. As a member of the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee for the past 18 years, I am proud to have been a persistent voice for aggressive environmental action, and to have named “Champion of the Environment” numerous times. We need to do several things. 1. Set a date by which we will be carbon-neutral, say 2035, and legally require all of our policies to be consistent with that goal. So, for example, no more funding of new fossil fuel infrastructure. 2. Require energy companies to ramp up and provide an increasing percentage of their energy from renewable sources such as solar, wind and geo-thermal 3. Enact aggressive tax-credits for the manufacture, purchase, installation and development of solar panels, wind farms, etc. 4. Work with other states to develop a regional Cap and Trade protocol which brings down our carbon emissions every year until we get to neutral. |
3. Pennsylvania has a great number of pressing issues that require additional funding. If you had an extra 10 million dollars, how would you allocate it?
Cappelletti |
Leach |
| I would allocate an extra $10 million into early care and education.This investment has multiple beneficiaries. When families with low-incomes secure placement in high quality childcare, parents can seek and obtain stable employment or further their education. Children's brains develop more from birth to age five than at any other time.Providing high quality early care and education leads to improved readings skills, higher graduation rates, less contact with the juvenile justice system, and better health and career outcomes.It is imperative for children and families that we invest in high quality early care and education. |
To be honest, 10 million dollars in a 45 billion dollar (including pass-throughs) budget isn’t all that much. So we have to choose something modest, but consequential. If I had that money today, no question. I’d buy as many N95 masks as I could and distribute them to the people who are risking their lives every day to care for COVID-19 patients. If we were past this crisis, I would like to use that money as kindling for something bigger. I would give it out as a prize to the person or organization that comes up with the best new idea or technology to reducecarbon emissions. |
4. The need for shelters that house women and children has been expanding. What would you do to enlarge the safety net for those who have struggled and continue to grow more destitute during these times?
Cappelletti |
Leach |
| We must increase funding to safety net programs to support more people. However, I believe we need to increase flexibility for what state funding can be used. We must allow providers the ability to address the needs in front of them, not the ones bureaucracy tells them they have. Funding from the state cannot be unnecessarily rigid in defining how that money is spent. It is important to ensure that taxpayer money is being used appropriately, but this often leaves safety net programs unable to address unexpected needs or even the root issues of why someone is struggling. |
I am a big believer in the social safety net because I am a big beneficiary of it. I was raised by a single mother on welfare who had some other difficulties as well. As a result, I wound up in a series of sometimes abusive foster homes. What saved me was the fact that my community was willing to invest in my future, through food stamps, school lunches, college loans, etc. The single biggest imepdement to an effective safety net is resources. So, I would emphasize investing in people more. My various opponents over the years frame it as me being a “tax and spend liberal”. But I view investing as literally that. The government invested in me, and I’ve had some success and paid back far more than was given to me. That’s how we look at corporate investing, and that’s how we should look at human investing. |
5. Given the highly partisan nature of current legislative discussions, what three things will you do to bridge the divide and work for the common good?
Cappelletti |
Leach |
| The highly partisan nature of legislative discussions is only part of the problem. More significant is the stale perspective of the same people arguing over the same issues for decades. I bring a new perspective not bogged down by old grudges. I bring a demonstrated ability to build relationships –having worked across the aisle with Planned Parenthood and having earned the support of many future colleagues in the House and Senate. The gridlock will not end until new leadership takes over. I will fight to flip the legislature to ensure it works for the common good. |
1. The first thing is shockingly simple. Human interaction can have a great impact. That’s why when I was first elected, i formed the “Bi-Partisan 2. I’d institute something called the “Automatic Calendar”, where each legislator would get one bill a session, of their choice, that would have 3. I’d of course fight to end gerrymandering. Safe seats where the incumbent can never lose to a member of the other party leads to a set of political incentives that are terrible. But if we had to be re-elected in close districts, our incentives would be to work across the aisle and accomplish things rather than just impress our base and demonize the other side. |