In the 2011-12 State Budget, Pennsylvania faced a dramatic decrease in education funding, reducing funding to districts by nearly $900 million. Representative James Roebuck Jr, the minority chair of the House education committee describes the effects of these cuts, “You find an increasing number of schools in financial distress. Even now, more affluent districts are beginning to see they are three or four years away from a major financial debacle. … They relied on reserves to get over initial cuts, but now schools have laid off teachers, they’ve laid off staff, they’ve reduced programs. Some schools have cut arts and music, they’ve cut libraries, they’ve cut sports”. However, the students in the poorest districts are bearing the largest cuts, making it even harder for students with the greatest disparities to achieve. “The hardest-hit districts, such as Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Reading and York, lost more than 10 times the money per student as some other districts, such as Cumberland Valley in Cumberland County, Council Rock School District in Bucks County, North Allegheny in suburban Pittsburgh and Tredyffrin-Easttown in Chester County”.While certain affluent districts cannot support their art programs, the poorer districts can no longer ever afford to buy textbooks and in recent years, these districts continue to see little relief.
As the creators of the figure above describe, “Districts with more than 50% of students categorized as low-income had per-student cuts of $883 on average in 2011-12, more than five times higher than districts with a quarter or fewer low-income students, whose cuts totaled $166 per student on average.” The students who face the greatest economical challenges are now facing further disadvantages within their education. While the Pennsylvania General Assembly has attempted to alleviate some of the impact from these devastating cuts by approving $49 million in funding for severely impoverished school districts, it is still not enough. Many desperate districts were even excluded from extra funding including Philadelphia, revealing the manner in While certain affluent districts cannot support their art programs, the poorer districts can no longer ever afford to buy textbooks and in recent years, these districts continue to see little relief. which this aid overlooked desperate communities, skewed funding and overall how this funding can be considered nothing more than a poorly planned temporary fix.
Further, the Education Law Center, a legal advocacy organization in Pennsylvania, and the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia reports on March 26, 2014, that they are strongly considering a lawsuit against the state within the next few months. The Executive Director of the Education Law Center Rhonda Brownstein describes the reasoning “By failing to provide adequate funding to allow all students to meet standards, the state is violating the ‘thorough and efficient clause’ of the Pennsylvania constitution”. Lawsuits of this kind are not uncommon: in 1997, the Ohio state high court ruled in DeRolph v. State that Ohio’s school funding model is unconstitutional, describing that
“Ohio’s reliance on local tax dollars leaves too much to the chance of where someone is born and raised. Property-rich districts could provide an education that property-poor district could not afford.”
It seems that over fifteen years later, Pennsylvania is still facing these exact issues. Money impacts an education and young students who attend well-financed and well-resourced districts are ultimately more likely to succeed. As the education law center describes, “Money matters in education, and children attending well-resourced schools perform better on achievement tests. Pennsylvania is one of only three states that creates budgets without using a statewide education funding formula”.
With all of this said, the introduction of a funding formula for the distribution of state funds to public schools is not only necessary but critical for our future.
Sources:
http://www.csg.org/pubs/capitolideas/sept_oct_2012/educationbudgetcuts.aspx_
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/08/poor_schools_hit_hardest_by_bu.html
http://www.elc-pa.org/fighting-for-fair-school-funding/#sthash.VbEmylim.dpuf
