Education Law CenterStanding Up for Public School Children

NEITHER THOROUGH NOR EFFICIENT: SCHOOL FUNDING INEQUITY IN

PENNSYLVANIADavid Sciarra

Education Law Center

Pa. State Conference of NAACPConference on Education, May 25, 2012

The Right to Education

• The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth.” Pa. Const. art. 3, § 14.

What is “Fair” School Funding?

“Fair” school funding is defined as a state finance system that provides a sufficient level of funding to ensure equality of educational opportunity, with funding distributed to districts within the state to account for additional needs generated by student poverty.

Fair School Funding: Core Principles

• States should provide varying levels of funding to ensure equal educational opportunities to children with different needs.

• A “progressive” finance system allocates more funding to districts with high levels of student poverty; a “regressive” system allocates less to those districts; and a “flat” system allocates roughly the same across districts with varying needs.

Sta

te &

Lo

cal R

even

ue

per

Pu

pil

Low Poverty High Poverty

State A (Low revenue, poverty “flat”)

State B (Avg. implicit base rev., highly regressive)

State C (Avg. implicit base rev., progressive)

0% Poverty 10% Poverty 20% Poverty 30% Poverty$5,000

$7,000

$9,000

$11,000

$13,000

$15,000

$17,000

$19,000

$21,000

Indiana

Michigan

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Census Poverty Rate

Sta

te &

Lo

ca

l Re

ve

nu

e p

er

Pu

pil

Midwest

0% Poverty 10% Poverty 20% Poverty 30% Poverty$5,000

$7,000

$9,000

$11,000

$13,000

$15,000

$17,000

$19,000

$21,000

Delaware

Maryland

New Jersey

New York

Census Poverty Rate

Sta

te &

Lo

ca

l Re

ve

nu

e p

er

Pu

pil

Mid-Atlantic

North Central

0% Poverty 10% Poverty 20% Poverty 30% Poverty$5,000

$7,000

$9,000

$11,000

$13,000

$15,000

$17,000

$19,000

$21,000

Illinois

Iowa

Minnesota

Wisconsin

Census Poverty Rate

Sta

te &

Lo

ca

l Re

ve

nu

e p

er

Pu

pil

0% Poverty 10% Poverty 20% Poverty 30% Poverty$5,000

$7,000

$9,000

$11,000

$13,000

$15,000

$17,000

$19,000

$21,000

Alabama

Louisiana

Mississippi

Texas

Census Poverty Rate

Sta

te &

Lo

ca

l Re

ve

nu

e p

er

Pu

pil

Gulf Coast

State Funding Distribution: Top 10

StateAt 0%

PovertyAt 30% Poverty High/Low Grade

Utah $5,772 $9,157 159% A

New Jersey $13,961 $19,805 142% A

Ohio $8,993 $12,301 137% A

Minnesota $10,026 $13,043 130% B

Massachusetts $12,598 $15,550 123% B

South Dakota $7,794 $9,326 120% B

Indiana $10,137 $11,951 118% C

Connecticut $14,468 $16,855 117% C

Montana $8,577 $9,986 116% C

Delaware $12,125 $13,884 115% C

State Funding Distribution: Bottom 10

StateAt 0%

PovertyAt 30% Poverty High/Low Grade

Pennsylvania $13,788 $12,302 89% D

Maine $12,914 $11,472 89% D

Alabama $9,702 $8,551 88% D

New York $18,702 $16,286 87% D

Missouri $9,886 $8,571 87% D

North Dakota $10,774 $8,577 80% F

North Carolina $11,111 $8,699 78% F

New Hampshire $13,958 $10,849 78% F

Illinois $11,312 $8,707 77% F

Nevada $10,561 $7,974 76% F

Does Federal Funding Matter?

• Less than 10% of school funding is federal funds

• Too small to have any effect on Fairness• Title 1, RTT, etc.: “Subsidizing Inequity”• New direction: drive states to make

underlying finance systems fair

20

22

24

26

28

30

32

34

36

38

40

A B C D F

Fairness Index Grade

NA

EP

Pro

ficie

ncy 2

007

Does Fair Funding Mean Better Student Outcomes?

Gov. Corbett’s Cuts

Inequity Philly Style

Takeaways

• Fair School Funding: Essential precondition to reform efforts to close achievement gaps

• Key to Effective Teaching, Closing Gaps• Urgent need for state school finance reform • “Resistance is Deep” • New Federal Policies: Title I and Federal Grants

to leverage states to improve funding fairness

And While We’re At It....

• Access to high quality Pre-K for every low income child, and every child in a low income community

• State Pre-K Systems: unify Head Start, Child Care and Public School Pre-K

• Right to attend school in safe and educationally adequate facilities

• State capital program – assess need, ensure financing

David Sciarra, Esq.

Executive Director

dsciarra@edlawcenter.org

For More Information:

60 Park Place, Suite 300

Newark, NJ 07102

Phone: 973.624.1815 Fax: 973.624.7339

Education Law CenterStanding Up for Public School Children

www.edlawcenter.org