Dive Brief:
- Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Linda Lane urged the state of Pennsylvania on Monday to reassess its current school funding formula.
- Lane spoke at a Basic Education Funding Commission hearing, saying that if changes aren’t made, Pittsburgh will become just another of the state’s many “distressed districts,” which include Philadelphia, Duquense, and Chester-Upland.
- Using testimony like Lane’s, the Basic Funding Commission will make education funding recommendations to the state’s General Assembly by June 2015.
Dive Insight:
Pennsylvania is one of only a handful of states that still have lax, unsystematic school funding policies. Relying heavily on property taxes, per pupil funding varies drastically across the state. According to Philly.com, the gap in per-pupil spending ranges from $9,800 to $28,400, depending on where a student lives.
Recent reports by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that test scores have dropped with decreases in education funding only help to buttress the points made in the lawsuit. How can schools, students, and teachers possibly be held accountable on state tests when they don’t have the funding to purchase the necessary resources they need to succeed?