PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — As Gov. Josh Shapiro prepares his budget proposal, education advocates are recommending how Pennsylvania should fund K-12 schools in a way that would meet last year’s court mandate.
Last year, the Commonwealth Court ruled that Pennsylvania’s system of funding education was unconstitutionally inadequate and inequitable. A coalition of groups called PA Schools Work has released a recommendation on how to satisfy the court.
Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg, senior attorney with the Public Interest Law Center, said adding $6.2 billion to the state’s education budget over the next five years — with a $2 billion increase in the first year — would meet the court’s directive.
“They have to fill this $6.2 billion adequacy gap within five years. It’s a big number,” he said. “We don’t pretend that it’s not a big number, but it’s also an urgent problem.”
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Donna Cooper, executive director of the nonprofit Children First, said Shapiro should step up when he delivers his budget address next month.
“We know and hope that he agrees with us that this is the right time, this year, to right the unconstitutional wrong,” she said.
A bipartisan panel called the Basic Education Funding Commission is expected to present its school funding recommendations to the governor and state Legislature next week.