Do you know that Pennsylvania ranks 46th in the country in the state share of K-12 education funding? The average state covers 47 percent of school funding costs, but our state contributes only 38 percent, according to the US Census Bureau. In fact, state funding for classroom costs has declined since 2013, falling by $155.3 million. Increases in state education appropriations have not kept pace with rising costs; the funding gap between Pennsylvania’s low- and high-wealth districts is the largest such gap in the nation. Local revenues average 56 percent of school funding.
Dependence on local revenue leads to inequities — wealthy districts support their schools much better than economically distressed districts that often have students with the greatest needs. The Campaign for Fair Education Funding successfully pushed for bipartisan enactment of a fair funding formula in 2016. In 2018, many of the Campaign’s partners formed PA Schools Work, a bipartisan advocacy group that is pushing for enactment of the 2016 fair funding formula.
Read the full letter here: http://www.statecollege.com/news/local-news/letter-pa-schools-work-advocates-for-our-schools,1479007/