July 11, 2024 — Commonwealth Court’s school funding decision requires something plain from state officials: a plan “to provide all students in every district throughout Pennsylvania with an adequately funded education.” Pennsylvania children still await such a plan. But even though legislators artificially reduced the size of the state’s funding shortfall by undercounting students in […]
June 10, 2024 – The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has approved a groundbreaking, comprehensive school funding bill, House Bill 2370, amending the state’s school code. The plan writes into law the robust seven-year funding plan developed by the state’s Basic Education Funding Commission in January 2024 in response to Commonwealth Court’s landmark 2023 ruling. The […]
In testimony before state representatives serving on the House Democratic Policy Committee, our senior attorney Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg explains the transformative impact of the Governor’s budget proposal, and the need for a long-term plan for constitutional school funding.
February 5, 2024 – Public education has been part of the foundation of our commonwealth since the beginning. And last year, for the first time, a Pennsylvania court found that education is a fundamental right guaranteed to students by our state constitution–and that our public school funding system fails to provide for that right in […]
February 6, 2024 – We commend Gov. Shapiro for today’s historic commitment to address the needs of all Pennsylvania’s school children. Last year Gov. Shapiro promised to develop a plan to bring Pennsylvania’s school funding system into constitutional compliance. Building on the work of the Basic Education Funding Commission, he has kept that promise, and […]
Today, the Basic Education Funding Commission took the first step towards developing a public school funding system based on what students need statewide—not on local wealth. We applaud the commissioners for taking their constitutional duty seriously, and putting forward and adopting a plan that, if fully implemented, would make a life-changing difference for our students.
The Basic Education Funding Commission’s January 11 deadline to issue its report is less than a month away. It is a fork in the road for the future of the commonwealth.
September 12, 2023 – Penn State professor and school funding expert Matthew Kelly has prepared a new analysis of Pennsylvania’s public school funding system for the Basic Education Funding Commission. His study estimates the combined cost of basic and special education for each district to provide an adequately funded education for all students, based on […]
September 13, 2023 – Attorneys from Education Law Center-PA and Public Interest Law Center and superintendents from Panther Valley School District and Wilkes-Barre Area School District – who won a historic victory in their school funding case in Commonwealth Court in February – had their opportunity to testify before Pennsylvania’s Basic Education Funding Commission on […]
September 12, 2023 – Commonwealth Court’s February 2023 decision finding our school funding system unconstitutional was crystal clear: Now is the time to build a public school funding system that ensures that children in every community have the resources they need to succeed academically, civically, and socially. The work to build a new school funding […]
