STATEWIDE NEWS
Restarting Kids’ Education Won’t Be Easy
It’s looking more and more likely that Pennsylvania schools will be closed beyond the initial 2-week shutdown mandated by Gov. Tom Wolf. The shutdown was implemented to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19. The issue is that many school districts are not prepared to offer...
Amid School Closings, Some Students Have More Resources Than Others
School districts across the country are in an unprecedented situation. They face the challenge of educating millions of children at home. This obstacle has highlighted the divide between wealthy and poorer districts. While some districts prepared to give students...
Fact sheets: state funding not keeping up with rising education costs
Rising mandated costs are a growing problem for Pennsylvania school districts and funding from the state is not keeping up with costs, according to new 2020 school district fact sheets. The fact sheets — which provide information on state and local funding of public...
PA must invest in Career and Technical Education
Mr. Gustavo Perea highlighted in a recent opinion piece (“Career and Technical Education supports our economy. We should support it.” Feb. 21, 2020) the critical work of institutions like Middle Bucks Institute of Technology, Eastern Center for Arts and Technology and...
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.