A breakdown of the increase in funding each school district in Luzerne County received under the new budget
Pa. Department of Education
It wasn’t long ago that a decades-old legal battle came to a head when the State Supreme Court ruled the Pennsylvania Legislature was violating the state Constitution by providing inadequate funding for public schools.
Attempts to get such a ruling had failed for many years. This one worked mainly for two reasons.
First, in 2002, the federal “No Child Left Behind” law required every state to implement standardized math and reading tests, and steadily increase the percentage of students scoring “proficient” or “advanced.” By law, schools had to show “Adequate Yearly Progress” toward reaching 100% proficient or advanced by 2014.
That goal proved impossible in a system where student populations can shift throughout the year and the diversity of student abilities often exceeds the capacity of districts to adapt teaching plans accordingly.
Second, the state legislature commissioned studies to determine if schools were adequately funded.
Previously, courts determined there was no way to answer that question. But once a target was set (percent proficient/advanced), and a gauge established (testing), funding adequacy became a concrete thing, and the state Supreme Court agreed with those who filed a lawsuit (joined by Wilkes-Barre Area School District and several local individuals) that the state was coming up well short.
The court did not order a specific solution. It said the legislature and governor had to come up with a fair system that funds all schools adequately.
To the state’s credit, public education funding has increased pretty much every year since. And we believe many local property taxpayers have seen the benefits, as some (though not all) of our area school districts have avoided tax increases for several years in a row.
The recently enacted state budget continues the trend. It increased combined state Basic and Special Education Funding (BEF and SEF) to Luzerne County’s 11 school districts by a total of $4.9 million. That’s just shy of a modest 1.8%, average, with Crestwood getting the smallest hike (0.7%, $71,328), and Hanover Area getting the biggest (2.7%, $413,331).
We applaud the state for continuing the upward trend. Despite relentless efforts by critics to denigrate (and privatize) the public education system — and despite many flaws it has developed — it is still the backbone of a prosperous America. Universal education created the middle class, which, in turn, fueled the economic growth of a once-agrarian nation.
But it may be more important that, unlike past increases, this one should help special ed students more than others. The state and federal governments have a spectacular record of implementing mandates for these students without providing funds to fulfill them. And while SEF state money remains a small slice of the ed funding pie, this year local districts saw bigger increases there than in BEF money: Across Luzerne County, SEF increased from 2.3% (Crestwood) to 7.7% (Hanover Area), compared to BEF increases of 0.3% to 1.8% (same two districts, respectively).
When will the state reach “adequate funding?” There have been attempts to determine that in the past. We suggest it is time to take a renewed, hard look at all the complex factors and find a useful answer.
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