Two local state representatives are advocating a House resolution concerning school funding in an attempt to help schools that are considering shutting their doors because of the delay in state money for Pennsylvania's 501 school districts.

Reps. Rod Wilt, Sugar Grove Township, R-17th District, and Dick Stevenson, Grove City, R-8th District, are sponsoring a House resolution that would move House Bill 217 -- a bill that would provide schools with part of their missed payments from the state -- to a house floor vote, a news release said Thursday.

The bill, which has been stalled in committee since October, would provide schools with their first two state subsidy payments if a state education budget is not passed on time, the release said.

"If there is no final budget resolution before Christmas, there is simply no excuse for not acting on this resolution before we leave town next Tuesday," Wilt said in the release. "Although this stop-gap measure only releases 35 percent of allocated school funding, this amount will go a long way toward paying pressing bills. To break that 35 percent down into simple dollars, 35 cents for every dollar is far better than no money at all."

Stevenson and Wilt are among more than two dozen sponsors of the resolution.

"Our schools have been waiting patiently for their funding since August, but the state cannot keep asking them to borrow money or take from their reserves. Many schools are now reaching the point where they are down to their last dime," Stevenson said in the release. "This education funding stalemate has only been made worse by the use of new taxes for leverage ... We should not use children and their education as a bargaining chip for further political agendas."

Several Mercer County school districts have already had to borrow money to cover their bills.

School boardss passed their budgets by June 30 and estimated how much money they would get in state subsidies.

Not only does House Bill 217 provide money for the first two payments, it also allows school boards to reopen their 2003-04 budgets to reflect any increases in state money, the release said.