STATEWIDE NEWS
Study: Pa. shorted poor school districts with federal COVID aid
According to a recent analysis by the Keystone Research Center, area school districts with the most students of color, and the most living in poverty were shortchanged when federal COVID-19 funds were distributed. "The simplest way to say this is that the state...
Pennsylvania has left soaring special education costs to districts, report says
The Education Law Center and PA Schools Work released a report showing how PA’s school districts have been forced to shoulder most of the escalating costs of educating students with disabilities due to meager increases in state aid, over the course of the last decade....
Pa. schools need an additional $4.6 billion to close education gaps
A new analysis commissioned by advocates seeking to overhaul the state’s education funding system found that Pennsylvania’s public school children are being shortchanged by $4.6 billion. The conclusions depict widening gaps in education spending between affluent and...
SSD furloughs underscore state politics
The Scranton School Board voted to furlough 218 employees, but the district was struggling well before the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated its financial distress. The state government has failed to fairly support the Scranton School District, and multiple analyses have...
In November 2014, The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia and the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit on behalf of six school districts, PA Association of Rural & Small Schools, NAACP and parents; suing the commonwealth for violating the state constitution.
The lawsuit asserts that without adequate and equitably distributed resources students are not able to meet the proficiency standards set by the state legislature, as evidenced by the fact that state test scores declined across all districts following the 2011 state cuts.
The petitioners are asking for a court order that will force the legislature to comply with the state constitution and ensure all students receive access to a high-quality public education.