A recent report by the Education Law Center found years of state underfunding has led to widespread inequalities in Pennsylvania public schools.
Titled “Money Matters in Education Justice: Addressing Race and Class Inequities in Pennsylvania’s Public School System” and released on March 3, the report found those inequalities are felt most by students of color and students in low-income communities.
“Of the funding we have and we do appropriate, Pennsylvania is doing it in ways that reinforce inequality,” said Deborah Gordon Klehr, executive director of the Education Law Center.
The Education Law Center is a nonprofit law firm that advocates for public school students. Klehr said the firm launched the study on fair education funding in 2013. Pennsylvania did not have a fair funding formula at the time, which helps the state find a way to distribute dollars to school districts equally.
“As we started looking at the data, what became so clear is the racial justice lens you need to see what’s happening,” Klehr said in an interview.
Pennsylvania ranks 46th in the nation when it comes to the state’s share of education funding. The report found the state is also “overly reliant” on local funding for schools. This is because Pennsylvania is one of 14 states that regressively funds schools.
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Source: KPVI Channel 6, March 10, 2017.