Legislators, school officials uncertain about court ruling’s impact on education funding
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
In this file photo from September, fifth-graders at Trinity South wave their U.S. Constitutions high in the air. Karen Huff’s class welcomed Magisterial District Judge John Bruner and learned about U.S. law, the judicial branch, the role of judges and peer pressure.
Courtesy of Central Greene School District
Middle school students celebrate their first day in their new classrooms at Waynesburg Central Junior-Senior High School in January, after renovations at the high school building were completed to accommodate the middle schoolers and students officially moved in.
A landmark appellate court ruling last week requiring a seismic shift in how funding is distributed between wealthy and less affluent school districts across Pennsylvania is being met with more questions than answers about what it means for public education.
Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer issued a nearly 800-page order Tuesday that students in lower income districts are “being deprived” of equal educational opportunities, although it does not provide a clear roadmap on how to make the system more equitable.
That work will likely be left up to the state Legislature to determine how to more fairly allocate money to the local level or require sweeping changes in how schools are funded through property taxes.
“Right now there is a lot of uncertainty,” state Rep. Tim O’Neal said. “One thing we’ve known is this model that throwing money at these school districts that are struggling isn’t working.”
The lawsuit that Cohn Jubelirer ruled on was brought against the state by several lower income school districts looking to shake up how education is funded in Pennsylvania. While state GOP leaders mostly blasted the ruling, O’Neal appeared mostly optimistic about the potential changes that can be made.
The Republican from North Strabane, who represents central Washington County that has school districts of varying sizes and wealth, joked that “incremental change is revolutionary in Pennsylvania,” so a ruling as groundbreaking as this will undoubtedly force major changes in the future of public education, even if he didn’t exactly know what that would look like yet.
“To change things in a big way, you need a ruling like hers to throw it out and start from scratch,” O’Neal said.
The most obvious and likely easiest changes would be to the funding formulas that determine the amount of state money each of the 500 school districts across Pennsylvania receives. There are two main state funding mechanisms – one known as “hold harmless”, which has kept revenue steady for schools with declining populations, and another known as the “fair funding formula,” which factors a district’s poverty level, growth rates and other issues to determine funding.
State Rep. Dan Miller, D-Mt. Lebanon, said the two political parties have differing opinions on which formulas should be more prominent, although both sides agree that changes must be made to improve the educational system and make it more accountable.
“No matter what (the order) is saying … the Legislature is aware of the problem and we have taken some steps to address funding. It’s obviously a paramount educational issue,” Miller said of school funding. “There is a canyon of differences between the haves and have nots.”
While the proverbial money ball is in the Legislature’s court, school officials in this region are taking a wait and see approach as they try to gauge the financial changes that could be coming to the system.
“The water’s too muddy right now to know how it will affect our funding we are currently getting,” said Chris Pegg, who is superintendent of Albert Gallatin Area School District in southwestern Fayette County.
Pegg and other superintendents in Fayette County met last week to discuss their thoughts on what the ruling could mean for their districts. Pegg said he would like to see more money funneled to special education, as the costs of those programs are rising significantly.
“I’m just hoping there’s more funding for special ed because that special ed funding has been flat-lined for a while and the number of students needing those services has been increasing,” Pegg said. “There’s going to be a meeting with superintendents in the (intermediate units) area where we will learn how this will affect budgets.”
Central Greene School District Superintendent Kevin Monaghan said he is happy that lower-income districts will be getting more financial help, although he hopes the decisions on how that is achieved can be made sooner rather than later so school officials across Pennsylvania can begin making long-term financial plans.
“It would be nice if we had some type of supplemental funding with the ‘fair formula.’ It’s still too early to tell how it will impact our district,” Monaghan said. “I hope it doesn’t take too long. People need to take up this cause and act in a more expeditious manner.”
He also wants cyber and charter schools to be included in the review since public school districts must pay enrollment costs for students who choose that education option. That can be costly to public schools that are already struggling financially and don’t necessarily save on expenditures.
“It should be fair and equitable,” Monaghan said of adding scrutiny to how cyberschools are run
With no clear explanation on what changes should be made with so many different options on the table, school officials in several districts either did not respond to interview requests last week or declined to comment. A spokesperson for Peters Township School District said officials there were aware of the court ruling, but could not comment “without knowing the plan that will be put in place” by the Legislature.
O’Neal thinks there are numerous changes that can be made to the system that will draw bipartisan support between the Legislature and Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro. One suggestion is possibly a “lifeline scholarship” with limited vouchers using state money for students in low-income districts to attend cyberschools without having the cost come from the home school district, although it’s not known how costly that would be.
But changes to the current funding formulas are the most likely option, although O’Neal doubts the amount of state money devoted to public education will increase drastically in the future.
“There is a ton of uncertainty,” O’Neal said. “But with uncertainly there is opportunity, and this decision will force us to think of this issue in different ways, which might be a good thing.”