PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A seven-year court fight that could change the way Pennsylvania funds public schools headed to trial Friday in Commonwealth Court.
The suit claims the state’s system of paying for K-12 education is inadequate, inequitable, and unconstitutional.
The leader of the Pennsylvania State Senate disputes that notion, asserting that the state has always met its constitutional responsibilities to fund schools.
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2014 by six school districts:
- William Penn
- Panther Valley
- Lancaster
- Greater Johnstown
- Wilkes-Barre
- Shenandoah Valley
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Four parents, the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools and the Pennsylvania NAACP are also petitioners in the case.
The plaintiffs are suing the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman (R-Centre, Huntingdon, Juniata and Mifflin counties), House Speaker Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster County), Governor Wolf, the state Board of Education, and Education Secretary Noe Ortega.
The suit contends Pennsylvania underfunds poor school districts, forcing them to rely too much on property taxes to try to make up the difference.
Deborah Gordon Klehr, executive director of the Education Law Center which is representing the plaintiffs, said the way Pennsylvania funds schools deprives students in poorer school districts of their constitutional right to a “thorough and efficient” education.
The state’s share of local school budgets is 38%, Klehr said, arguing that the inequities have only grown since the suit was first filed in 2014.
“The system is still broken,” she told reporters. “The legislature is still not meeting its constitutional obligation to provide a thorough and efficient system of public education.”
Plaintiffs attorney Mimi McKenzie, legal director of the Public Interest Law Center, said low-wealth districts can’t make up the difference by raising property taxes.
“Because of the property values in those districts, they can never get enough of the resources that they need to provide those kids with the education that they’re entitled to,” she said.
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Corman, in a pretrial statement to KYW Newsradio, defended the legislature’s record on school funding.
“The General Assembly has always met our constitutional mandate to provide a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth,” Corman said.
“In the last budget alone, we boosted basic education funding by $300 million,” Corman continued.
“This included $100 million that was targeted only to the poorest school districts in the state, as well as $200 million that went through the Fair Funding formula designed to help school districts with extra needs. This was on top of the nearly $5 billion Pennsylvania schools received from the American Rescue Plan approved by Congress earlier this year, and the billions dedicated to schools in other COVID-19 relief bills approved at the federal level.”
“Pennsylvania currently ranks 7th in the nation in terms of per-pupil spending on education, and school districts are sitting on reserves totaling approximately $4 billion,” Corman added. “The idea that the legislature isn’t properly supporting public schools is patently false.”
Governor Wolf’s office issued a pretrial statement acknowledging inequities in the current school funding system.
“The Governor, the Secretary of Education and the Department of Education have made public education and investing in all Pennsylvania schools 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. While Governor Wolf’s budget has restored funding that was reduced by the previous administration, this increase in funding has not solved the various difficulties 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. 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.
The lawsuit has had a long and complex journey.
Commonwealth Court tossed the suit in 2015, saying the school funding question was a political issue that didn’t belong in the courts.
However, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2017 reinstated the case and ordered it to be heard in Commonwealth Court.
The plaintiffs want the court to order the legislature to create a fairer school funding system.
The trial before Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer is expected to last eight to ten weeks.
