Since State Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler was elected to the Pennsylvania House in 2018, cleaning the state’s toxic and aging school buildings has been an important issue to her.

But it became an even more personal one to her last year when her children’s South Philadelphia grade school was shut down because of asbestos exposure, writes Sean Kitchen for The Keystone.

The shutdown occurred abruptly while the Pennsylvania House was in session, and Fiedler had to bring her children to Harrisburg to take care of them.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, who proposed $300 million to clean toxic schools and $1.5 billion over the next 5 years, made it a point to mention that during his 2024 budget address.

“I was happy to see Rep. Fiedler’s kids … But there are a lot of other families out there who would have had to miss part of a paycheck – miss a day’s work – because we didn’t do our part to make our schools safer,” said Shapiro. 

Pennsylvania has some of the oldest school buildings in the country, which can lead to exposure to mold, lead paint, exposed electrical wiring, and more.

“The need to fund school facilities is something that’s been around for a long time,” Fiedler said.

Read more about Rep. Fiedler and the effort to modernize and make Pennsylvania’s schools safer in The Keystone. 

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