Pennsylvania needs to close the gap that exists between its wealthiest and poorest children, education leaders said at a March 21 workshop for fair school funding.

Joan Duvall-Flynn, chair of the Pa. NAACP Education Committee, and Esther Lee, president of the Bethlehem NAACP, said the future of many minority children depends on equitable school funding.

"If you need one buck, and (she) needs two bucks, and I need six bucks, that's how we want the money from the state sent out," Duvall-Flynn said.

Gov. Tom Wolf's proposed 2015-16 education budget is a step in the right direction, Duvall-Flynn said.

The proposed budget includes:

ŸA $400 million increase in basic education funding

ŸA $120 million increase in early childhood education

ŸA $20 million increase in the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program

ŸMore than $60 million for library funding

But even the unprecedented budget is not nearly enough to solve the many problems facing education statewide.

"We have had an irresponsible way of distributing state funds to the schools," Duvall-Flynn said. "We have the largest disparity between kids who have everything they need and under-funded children than any state in the country."

A recent Washington Post article confirmed her statement. Per-pupil spending in Pennsylvania's poorest districts is 33 percent lower than spending in its wealthiest districts, according to the article.

This number was more than 15 percent greater than Vermont's, which had the second highest disparity in the country.

"This system isn't working because we're losing students to the prison system and drugs because they don't have anyone to stand behind them," Lee said. "The only solution is education. We want them to succeed but they cannot if they are not adequately taught."

These were the kinds of conversations the duo had with grassroots organizations around the Lehigh Valley during the workshop.

They encouraged the several dozen grassroots and education leaders to take action by writing to newspapers, speaking at public meetings and writing to legislators.