Continuing the pressure for state funding equity

As state legislators carry on a special session in Harrisburg aimed at adopting property tax reform, public education advocates continue to pressure the legislature to fix the state's regressive school funding system in the process.

Governor Ed Rendell opened the special session on property tax reform September 28. He proposed that the Pennsylvania General Assembly approve a bill that would force school districts to accept tax revenue from slot-machine parlors, using those funds to provide property-tax rebates.

Good Schools Pennsylvania and the Education Law Center, along with 200 organizations statewide, have developed and sent a letter to the legislature arguing that “property tax reform that is not accompanied by school funding reform is destined to fail our children, our schools, our communities – as well as taxpayers.”

“Today, only one state pays a smaller share of total education costs than Pennsylvania,” the letter to legislators noted. Education advocacy groups are concerned that legislators may simply trade state gambling dollars for reduced property taxes without raising the level of state support for public schools.

“If the state would pay its fair share of public school costs, local districts would not need to raise property taxes to such high levels,” explained Janis Risch, executive director of Good Schools Pennsylvania.

With local school systems heavily dependent on property tax revenues, Pennsylvania is characterized by huge inequities between districts in the amount of funding available for public education. In this region, districts in the top fifth in school spending allocate from $3,800 to $8,000 more per student than the School District of Philadelphia.

That gap between city and suburbs translates into differences in spending per school of more than a million dollars even at the smallest schools.

Good Schools Pennsylvania is continuing its work to “engage people in sustained conversations with their elected officials about public school funding,” Risch said. The organization is developing a legislative scorecard for monitoring whether state legislators are actually working actively to bring about appropriate levels of school funding.

Both Good Schools Pennsylvania and the Education Law Center are advocating that the state create an ongoing process for “costing out” what level of funding is needed to provide adequate public schools. According to Risch, 33 other states have embraced the idea that part of a state's responsibility for school funding is determining what it costs for a district to ensure adequacy in its public schools.

For more information on work to address school funding equity in Pennsylvania, contact Good Schools Pennsylvania at 215-332-2700 or go to their website, www.goodschoolspa.org. The Education Law Center can be reached at 215-238-6970.