PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — In a perfect world, every school would have all the money it needs, but that is clearly not the case now. Early last year, a Commonwealth Court judge ruled that the way schools are funded in Pennsylvania does not meet the education clause of the state's Constitution, which says the legislature must provide for the maintenance and support of a “thorough and efficient system of education.”
"The problem isn't primarily, I think, a technical problem. It's a political and a racial one," says Dr. Roseanne Liu, visiting assistant professor at Swarthmore College and guest of KYW Newsradio's In Depth podcast.
In Depth: 'Why can't we make school funding equitable?'
"The problem isn't that we don't know how to make good and equitable formulas and policies. The problem is rooted in a system that is designed to differentially value children's lives."
After hearing seven months of testimony, the bipartisan Basic Education Funding Commission, voted to recommend that Pennsylvania spend $5.4 billion over seven years on K-12 education to close the equity gap highlighted in the Commonwealth Court ruling.
The issue is now in the hands of Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and a divided Legislature. The question remains: Will lawmakers act?
We talked with Liu about her new book, "Designed to Fail: Why Racial Equity in School Funding Is So Hard to Achieve," which focuses much attention on how school funding works in Pennsylvania, and why it seems like we just can’t get it right.
In the book, Liu takes a deep look at why it is almost always children of color who get shortchanged.