Trial that could change how Pennsylvania funds its public schools set to start Friday
A trial set to start this week in Harrisburg could change how Pennsylvania funds its public schools in what advocates say would be a more equitable manner.
But opponents contend the state already funds its schools appropriately and note that education spending has increased in recent years.
The state Commonwealth Court trial is the result of a lawsuit filed in 2014 by six school districts, advocacy organizations and parents that blamed state officials and the General Assembly for not meeting their constitutional obligation to provide a “thorough and efficient” public education system.
The lawsuit seeks to have the court say that the current school funding system is unconstitutional and order the Legislature to create and maintain funding that gives students the resources they need to meet academic standards and prepares them for life after graduation.
“The decision in this case is going to shape the trajectory of Pennsylvania children for years to come,” said Mimi McKenzie, legal director of the Philadelphia-based Public Education Law Center, one of the groups that brought the lawsuit. “You’re finally going to get to hear the stories of the petitioners in this case. It’s a story where children who need the most often get the least. It’s a story of rural and urban and suburban communities who really have been on the losing end of economic forces.”
The organizations bringing the lawsuit claim Pennsylvania underfunds schools by more than $4.6 billion, affecting over 400 of the state’s 500 districts and the 86% of students in the commonwealth who attend those school systems. They said the wealthiest districts spend on average $4,800 more per student than the poorest districts, a number that grew by more than $1,000 per student over the past decade.
Pennsylvania contributes a 38% share of education funding to public schools, according to Public Interest Law Center, nearly 10% less than the national average of 47%. The state ranks 45th out of the 50 states in its percentage of education funding.
Because of the lack of state funding, advocates say, more of the burden falls on taxpayers, driving a gap between wealthy and poor communities. That gap continues to grow even though the average tax rate in the state’s poor districts is 14% higher than it is in the wealthiest districts, they said.
The lack of funding disproportionately impacts Black and brown students, as 20% of school districts with the lowest wealth educate 50% of the state’s Black students and 40% of Hispanic students.
Most of the school districts involved in the lawsuit are on the eastern side of Pennsylvania, but advocates say the issue impacts school systems across the state.
The superintendent for the Greater Johnstown School District, one of the six school systems bringing the lawsuit, said a lack of funding has impacted her district — one of the poorest in the state — for years.
“We have been underfunded for many, many years, and the students of the Greater Johnstown School District deserve the same opportunities of all students across the commonwealth,” Superintendent Amy Arcurio said. “That is, the promise of a bright future, and to leave high school being career or college ready.”
Arcurio said the district has cut personnel to the “bare bones” and still cannot pay for resources that would help many of the school system’s students. For example, she said, many students come in at below entry-level kindergarten reading readiness, but the district is not able to offer important interventions, such as reading specialists.
“We can’t afford to hire and target the reading skills that our students need to be proficient,” she said. “We can’t afford to bring in the amount of reading specialists we need to ensure success for our students.”
According to data from advocacy groups, dozens of school districts in southwestern Pennsylvania have a funding shortfall of more than $1,000 per student. Local school districts with the largest shortfalls include the Midland Borough School District in Beaver County, with a shortfall of over $5,000 per student, and Sto-Rox in Allegheny County, Charleroi in Washington County and Carmichaels in Greene County, with shortfalls of more than $4,000 per student.
“The commonwealth’s own assessments demonstrate that students in low-wealth districts are unprepared for college or a career,” said Deborah Gordon Klehr, executive director of the Education Law Center. “We see that in test score gap, the big disparities in proficiency on standardized test based on local wealth.”
The state defends
The lawsuit is filed against legislative leaders, state education officials and the governor, but it is primarily being defended by the leaders of the GOP-controlled House and Senate — Republican House Speaker Bryan Cutler, of Lancaster County, and Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, of Centre County.
In a statement, Corman said the General Assembly has always met its constitutional mandate to provide a “thorough and efficient” system of public education.
He noted that in the last budget, the state boosted basic education funding by $300 million, including $100 million that was targeted for the poorest school districts in the state and $200 million that went through the fair funding formula designed to help school districts with extra needs.
“Pennsylvania currently ranks seventh in the nation in terms of per-pupil spending on education, and school districts are sitting on reserves totaling approximately $4 billion,” Corman said. “The idea that the Legislature isn’t properly supporting public schools is patently false.”
Gov. Tom Wolf’s office said in a statement that it has restored education funding that had been reduced by the previous administration, but it said it recognizes that money has not solved all of the issues schools face.
“We acknowledge that the current system of school funding results in some districts whose per-pupil allocations are significantly lower than students in other districts, with resulting inequities in the current system of school funding,” the statement said. “Pennsylvania must continue to improve equity in education and provide all students with the tools and skills they will need after graduation.”
The statement said that the governor, secretary of education and the Department of Education have made investing in public education a top priority.
“It is important that all students receive a quality public education and imperative that students in Pennsylvania have equitable access to a fair education system regardless of their ZIP code,” the statement said. “The Wolf administration has made progress by investing hundreds of millions of dollars more in Pennsylvania’s schools and enacting a fair funding formula that takes into account the needs of students in their districts.”
The advocacy groups said, however, that only 14% of state basic education funding is distributed through the fair funding formula and it has not significantly reduced the inequities.
A long time coming
The litigants have been waiting for years for the case to go to trial.
The lawsuit initially was tossed by the Commonwealth Court in 2015, stating the courts cannot get involved in school funding issues. The Supreme Court said in a 2017 divided opinion the claims were subject to judicial review and ordered the Commonwealth Court to hear the case. Over the course of the ensuing years, state officials have unsuccessfully attempted to have the case dismissed.
The trial will begin Friday before Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer at the Pennsylvania Judicial Center in Harrisburg. The case is expected to last eight to 10 weeks, with a decision coming perhaps months after the trial ends.
Gordon Klehr said education funding lawsuits in other states have been successful, and the litigants hope to have a similar result in Pennsylvania.
“The benefit for us,” she said, “is that studies show that funding lawsuits bring about more revenue than the state would otherwise raise, increase academic achievement and lifetime successes and, quite frankly, break a political impasse over funding by invoking this independent judicial process based on a cost analysis, which then creates the opportunity for the Legislature to do the right thing and actually follow the constitution and fund our schools.”