Pennsylvania’s Path To Better (And More Expensive) School Funding
From Forbes.com. Pennsylvania has a new funding plan. Now what?
In 2014, the Public Interest Law Center and Education Law Center-PA had filed a lawsuit; the plaintiffs were six school districts, along with the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools, the NAACP PA State Conference, and some families. That lawsuit finally went to trial in November of 2021. At the beginning of 2023, the verdict came back. The court found Pennsylvania’s funding system in violation of the state constitution.
The complicated decision fills 786 pages, but the findings are clear enough, determining that the current funding system is in violation of the state’s constitutional requirement to provide a “thorough and efficient systems of public schools” to educate all children.
To summarize, the Education Clause requires that every student be provided with a meaningful opportunity to succeed academically, socially, and civically, which requires that all students have access to a comprehensive, effective, and contemporary system of public education.
The directive of the court was also clear; the legislature needed to fix this system.
Basic Education Funding Commission
The Pennsylvania General Assembly put the Basic Education Funding Commission on the task. The BEFC is composed of three members from each legislative caucus plus three from the administration for a grand total of fifteen.
The commission spent eight months hearing testimony from all across the state.
The BECF produced two reports. Report #1, the GOP report, was voted to a tie along party lines, with the administration’s representatives abstaining. Report #2 was adopted on an 8-7 vote (one Democrat voted against it, saying it didn’t go far enough, and the administration representatives voted in favor).
Based on $13,704 multiplied by a weighted student count, the report arrives at a $5.4 billion dollars spending gap, of which the state should cover $5.1 billion. The state would have to come up with that money to “even out” spending among districts.
It also calls for an additional $200 million per year to be distributed through formulas that would promote stability in district finances. The report also addressed school facilities, calling for $300 million a year for seven years to be invested in fixing Pennsylvania’s school buildings.