From Education Voters of Pennsylvania (http://www.educationvoterspa.org/):
The Commonwealth Court has released a briefing and trial scheduling order for Pennsylvania’s school funding lawsuit, with the trial tentatively set to begin in summer 2020.
Before the trial, all parties involved in the lawsuit will need time to conduct extensive fact discovery in order to produce expert reports. The schedule that the Commonwealth Court has released is similar to schedules for other school funding cases.
In a press release, Education Law Center legal director Maura McInerney stated, “We are pleased that the court has set a timeline for bringing this case to trial so that legislative leaders cannot continue to postpone and delay. Every day that legislative leaders fail to act is a day that students are deprived of basic resources, and our children who need the most continue to get the least.”
McInerney’s comments highlight the urgency of this case.
Since the lawsuit was filed in 2014, state funding increases have not kept pace with rising mandated costs, including pension expenses. Because of this, aggregate state funding available to school districts for classroom costs have effectively decreased by $155.3 million since 2013.
In addition, according to an affidavit filed by Mark Price, an economist from the Keystone Research Center, funding gaps between low- and high-wealth districts have significantly increased since the case was filed. Four years ago, a typical high-wealth school district spent $3,058 more per student than a typical low-wealth school district. Today that difference has grown to $3,778/student.
In other words, four years ago, high-wealth districts spent $76,450 more for each classroom of 25 students than low-wealth districts. Today, they spend $94,450 more.
State lawmakers do NOT need to waste taxpayer dollars defending an indefensible school funding system.
As Public Interest Law Center attorney Michael Churchill stated, “The legislature has the power to fix this, whether they take action before 2020 or wait for us to win at trial.”
The 2019 legislative session will present many opportunities for advocates to take action to support the funding our children’s schools need.
PS: The school funding lawsuit was filed in 2014 by the Public Interest Law Center and Education Law Center on behalf of six families, six school districts – William Penn, Panther Valley, Lancaster, Greater Johnstown, Wilkes-Barre Area and Shenandoah Valley – the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools,and the NAACP of Pennsylvania. It alleges that the state’s school funding system violates Pennsylvania’s constitution, due to significant underfunding and gross disparities in allocations that penalize students in low-wealth districts. Click HERE to learn more.
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