The Press asked the candidates what the most pressing issue was facing residents of the 16th Senatorial District and why he should be elected or re-elected to the seat.

Republican Incumbent Pat Browne

State Sen. Pat Browne, R-16th, is seeking another four-year term in the 16th Senatorial District, which he has served since May 2005.

Providing a quality and fair education for all Pennsylvania children must be the top priority for not only the 16th Senatorial District, but for everywhere in the commonwealth.

Making sure our children are given the tools and support they need now to succeed later in life will help reduce the number of young people who fall behind in school and are more likely to drop out than become productive and successful members of their communities and of our highly-skilled and competitive workforce.

That is why I have continually supported increased funding for education and investment in both early childhood education and special education.

Currently, I am co-chairing the Basic Education Funding Commission, which is tasked with developing and recommending to the General Assembly a new formula for distributing state funding for basic education to Pennsylvania school districts in an adequate and fair manner.

The new formula will take into account relative wealth, local tax effort, geographic price differences, enrollment levels, and local support as well as other factors.

This will ensure our taxpayer dollars are being spent and distributed fairly across all school districts.

As co-chair of the bi-partisan, bi-cameral Early Childhood Education Caucus, I have supported funding for programs that provide high-quality early childhood care and education in Pennsylvania that promotes health and educational development for our at-risk children.

We were successful this year in advocating for additional early learning funding in the 2014-15 state budget. The additional $10 million increase in this year's budget brought the total investment in Pre-K Counts to $97 million and allows more children in need of these programs and services to receive that assistance.

I have also been a strong advocate for a fair funding system for special education dollars. I served as co-chair of the Special Education Funding Commission, which made recommendations for a new funding formula for special education that were passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by the Governor as part of the 2013-14 Fiscal Code.

The new formula will now distribute increased funding for special education in a way that actually takes into account the real number of students needing specialized education services and base the funding for those students on the degree to which they need those services.

The 2014-15 state budget was the first time the new formula was used to distribute special education funding since it included an additional $20 million for special education, the first increase in special education funding since 2008-2009.

Shortly after being elected to the Senate, I became the lead sponsor of the "adequacy formula" which determined the amount of basic education funds distributed to school districts based on the total level of resources required for primary and secondary students to meet state academic standards. The formula was adopted in state law in 2007.

These worthy investments in education and programs with proven results will continue to pay huge dividends to Pennsylvania communities and our state's overall economic well-being, while lessening the burden on taxpayers.

Democrat Walter Felton Jr.

Candidate Walter Felton Jr. did not respond to the question from The Press by press time.