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EDUCATION FUNDING AND QUALITY

The Law Center's mission under this agenda is to make Brown v. Board of Education a living reality, ensuring equal access for all children to a quality educational experience.

The Law Center is working closely with its clients and collaborators to pursue equalization of resources for all of Pennsylvania's school children. Towards this effort, the Law Center has provided support and technical assistance to Philadelphia's Close the Gap Coalition, comprised of advocacy organizations including Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth, the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, ASPIRA and the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP, as well as the Pennsylvania Campaign for Public Education, which in addition to the Close the Gap Coalition, includes the AFL-CIO and other labor organizations, the League of Women Voters, the Pennsylvania Council of Churches, the Coatesville Taxpayers Association and other organizations. Other groups which the Law Center collaborates with on these issues are Good Schools Pennsylvania, the Educational Policy and Leadership Center, and the Educational Law Center.

The Law Center has conducted analysis of per pupil spending patterns since 1994, revealing the serious statewide disparity in education spending, not only among all of the districts but also between largely minority and largely white school districts.

THE LAW CENTER CONTRIBUTES TO A NATIONAL DIALOGUE ON THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION

Congressional briefing

From left to right, Law Center attorney Michael Churchill, Penn History PhD candidate Patrick Spero, IFEEO Executive Director Sheilah Vance, Congressman Chaka Fattah, Law Center Executive Director Jennifer Clarke, The Campaign for Educational Equity's Michael Rebell and The Education Law Center's David Sciarra.

 

On September 8, 2008 the Law Center participated in a Congressional Briefing organized by the office of PA Representative Chaka Fattah on the topic of educational equity. Based on the findings of the Law Center's report Education in the 50 States: A Deskbook of the History of State Constitutions and Laws about Education published by the Institute for Educational Equity and Opportunity (IFEEO), the Law Center's Jennifer Clarke and Michael Churchill joined a panel of education experts to discuss the role that the federal government should play in educating the country's youth.

Download an excerpt from the book on our Publications page

 


OUTPOURING OF SUPPORT PAYS OFF FOR EDUCATION FUNDING IN PENNSYLVANIA
On July 8, 2008 Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell signed into law the 2008-2009 state budget, approving a $9.6 billion education budget and the first state funding formula in over two decades. This represents a $275 million increase over last year's budget for basic education funding - the largest annual increase in decades.

This historic commitment was achieved through strong leadership by Governor Rendell and a united advocacy community, including parents, teachers, administrators and school boards working together in the Pennsylvania School Funding Campaign. The unprecedented lobbying of Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and mayors from around the state stressing the importance of a strong educational system for economic development in their communities was another important factor.

The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia hailed the state education budget as an historic breakthrough which will benefit school children in predominately urban and rural poor school districts across the state, including Philadelphia. Law Center attorney Michael Churchill, who represents the organization on the steering committee of the PA School Funding Campaign, stated:

"With passage of this year's budget, the Pennsylvania legislature has committed itself to reducing the inequality between school districts over the next five years. It has set adequacy targets based on last year's Costing Out Study which starts from the needs of each district to enable its students to meet state standards. This is unprecedented in Pennsylvania. While it will take a lot of legislative will power to increase state appropriations $470 million a year to meet those targets, the General Assembly has recognized the importance of helping underfunded school districts meet their students' needs by acknowledging that the state should increase its support by that amount to districts."

Districts like Philadelphia, Allentown, Reading, Upper Darby and William Penn, where taxpayer burdens are high but school resources low, will receive substantial increases in funding to strengthen their instructional programs. All but 47 of the 501 school districts will receive increases under the targets incorporated into the state code, if the General Assembly provides the funding which it has now recognized as the appropriate goal. Increasing the level of state support will reduce the burden on local taxpayers in those communities.

Churchill stated, "It has been 18 years since Pennsylvania last adopted a formula which takes into account the needs of districts by counting students and this is the first formula in the state's history which attempts to measure what additional funding is needed to meet state proficiency standards. Instead of being one of only two states without any formula, Pennsylvania is moving into the leading tier of states with a formula based on students' needs and districts' financial capacity."


LARGE STATE EDUCATION FUNDING GAPS CONTINUE IN 2006-2007
On June 17, 2008 the Law Center released its annual report analyzing school funding gaps in Pennsylvania. State data for 2006-07 reveals that the gaps between the highest and lowest spending districts continued to grow over those seen in 2005-06. For Philadelphia the gap in funds available to it compared with neighboring school districts also increased, from $2,378 per student to nearly $2,928 per student because of the cost cutting by Philadelphia to prevent a deficit. These increases are important because the Costing Out Study commissioned by the General Assembly based its report on the 2005-06 figures. These numbers show that the large shortfalls shown by that report have not abated.

The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia has calculated the gaps between the average amount spent by the top 20% of the school districts (100 districts) and the rest of the districts, which is the standard adopted by the New Jersey Supreme Court. In 2007, ten districts had gaps greater than $6,000 per student, 331 districts (66 percent) had gaps of $3,000 per student and 210 districts (42 percent) had gaps in excess of $4,000 per student. A $4,000 gap in a class of 25 children is $100,000. The gap with the median spending school district is down slightly from $3,843 to $3,746.

Cities with wide gaps, all greater than Philadelphia's, are: Reading $6,154; Allentown $5,998; Altoona $5,176; Scranton $4,704; Erie $4,034; York $4,033; and Wilkes Barre $3,987. Philadelphia's gap is $3,475, an increase of $232 from last year.

Although conducted on a different basis, the Law Center Gap Analysis produces results broadly similar to those of the state's Costing Out Study released last November which can be found via the PDE home page:
http://www.pde.state.pa.us/pde_internet/site/default.asp?g=0
See below for more information about the Law Center's work as a part of the Pennsylvania School Funding Campaign ( www.paschoolfunding.org ) to support endorsement of the study's recommendations.

Click here to see the full list of per student expenditure and funding gap, by district.
Click here to read the full text of the Law Center's report
See below to read the reports from previous years

THE LAW CENTER'S MICHAEL CHURCHILL GIVES PRESENTATION ON EDUCATION FINANCE AT THE 20TH ANNUAL PBA MINORITY ATTORNEY CONFERENCE
On April 24, 2008, Mr. Churchill participated in a panel discussion entitled "All Children Left Behind" at the Philadelphia Bar Association's Minority Attorney Conference. The other panelists were Donna Cooper, PA Secretary of Education, and Sandra Dungee-Glenn of the Philadelphia Reform Commission. Mr. Churchill's portion of the presentation was entitled "Pennsylvania's Unequal School Finance System: It Can Be Changed." Click here to view the powerpoint presentation that accompanied his speech.

MOMENTUM BUILDS AS STATEWIDE COALITION LAUNCHES PA SCHOOL FUNDING CAMPAIGN

In an unprecedented display of unity, organizations around the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have joined to form a powerful and growing coalition calling for legislation to increase and equalize state spending for public education. The Law Center's Michael Churchill serves as a member of the management committee of the coalition which also includes the Education Policy Leadership Center, Public Citizens for Children and Youth, The Pennsylvania League of Urban Schools, The Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools, The Pennsylvania PTA, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, The Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators and other Harrisburg-based organizations.

The Coalition began to gather force in late 2007 when the Pennsylvania Department of Education released a statewide costing-out study to determine "the basic cost per pupil to provide an education that will permit students to meet the state's academic standards and assessments." See the article below for more information about the Costing Out study.

After meeting with the state's Secretary of Education in late 2007, the Coalition developed proposed legislation that will create a more equitable funding formula for the future, beginning with a substantial down payment this year. The proposal calls for an immediate state investment of $1 billion as a first step towards reaching full adequacy.

The Coalition will announce its Pennsylvania School Funding Campaign at a press conference in Harrisburg on January 23, 2008. "We're telling the governor and legislature, we want you to start putting in place a system that everybody will see will get to a long-term solution. The inequities and disparities are there and real," said Churchill in a recent interview about the study with the Philadelphia Public School Notebook - an independent education newsletter.

For all the most current information about the Pennsylvania School Funding Campaign, including the proposal, full list of coalition members, and updates from the press conference, visit: www.paschoolfunding.org or click on the image below.

PA School Funding Banner
Visit The Campaign Web Site at www.paschoolfunding.org


"COSTING-OUT" STUDY RELEASED: ADEQUATE EDUCATION IN PA WILL COST AN ADDITIONAL $4.6 BILLION
The 2006-07 Pennsylvania state budget appropriated funding for a statewide costing-out study to determine "the basic cost per pupil to provide an education that will permit students to meet the state's academic standards and assessments," taking into account both the adequacy and equity of state and local funding.

The highly anticipated report, released on November 14, 2007, called for a $4.6 billion increase in yearly spending to enable districts to meet the 2014 state standards. This amount represents a 26.8% increase over current spending levels. Additionally the study showed that per-pupil spending in Pennsylvania averaged $9,512 in 2005-2006, when it should have been $12,057.

The Law Center is working to assemble leaders and advocates from Pennsylvania's 501 school districts to endorse the study and generate the support among state legislators necessary to make the recommendations a reality. We have issued a call to all the state's districts to sign a Statement calling for legislative implementation of the Report and pledging to work together for a fair and equitable educational system. This effort is a logical follow up to our drafting of the Successful Schools Bill of 2007 for Representatives Micozzie and Manderino which called for $3.2 billion in new investment. (See "New State Funding Formula Proposed" below for more information about the Successful Schools Bill of 2007.)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE STATEMENT
Email schoolfunding@philaedfund.org to add your support to this effort TODAY!

Click here to read the full text of the Costing-Out study




PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL DISTRICT FUNDING GAPS 2005-06
The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia released a report June 21st disclosing that state funding for school districts in Pennsylvania reached an historic new low as a proportion of the total cost of funding schools. As a result, gaps between what the top 20 percent of the state's school districts were able to spend per student and what the rest of the school districts spent on their students widened. The gap between spending by the Philadelphia school district and other schools in its region also increased.

The report analyzes data released last week by the Pennsylvania Department of Education on expenditures and revenues of school districts in 2005-06.

"This report shows an overwhelming majority of the state's school districts and children need a new education funding formula which will have the state provide a fairer share of the cost of education. Districts, parents, and business all around the state should make common cause to demand Harrisburg fix this broken system, so that all children have an opportunity to meet state and No Child Left Behind standards, not just schools in wealthy communities," said Michael Churchill, who prepared the report for the Law Center.
For a complete copy of the report, click here
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For Alphabetical Listing of School Funding List, click here.



NEW STATE EDUCATION FUNDING FORMULA PROPOSED
Twenty-three state representatives from around the state and both parties introduced House Bill 1544, the Successful Schools Act of 2007, in June which would create a new state funding formula which would provide all school districts with the funds necessary to meet the state's 2011 PSSA standards. Prime Sponsors are Reps. Nicholas Micozzie and Kathy Manderino.

The Successful Schools Bill guarantees sufficient state funding to every school district so that with an equitable local tax rate it has the same resources and can educate its students to the same level of success as the 49 high performing districts which are currently meeting the state's 2011 PSSA standards in reading and math for all demographic groups.

The Bill, drafted with the assistance of the Law Center, is designed to build on what it actually costs to successfully educate students in Pennsylvania today. It is designed to meet the legislature’s constitutional responsibility "to provide a thorough and efficient system of public education" by ending the plight of school districts unable to provide an adequate education simply because of a small local tax base insufficient to raise the necessary funds. It will narrow the huge disparity between the education resources available to our sons and daughters in rich and poor districts in Pennsylvania, a disparity greater than in all but seven other states.

The Bill increases state expenditures by $3.4 billion or 20 percent. $3.205 billion is for new educational spending and $167 million goes to districts with high tax effort otherwise without increased funding. In order for districts to absorb this increase and use it wisely the Bill phases the increase in over three years. It holds districts accountable to use the increased revenue for practices that have demonstrated success in improving student achievement such as reducing class size, increasing pre-K, and improved teacher training.
For a complete description of the bill, click here
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For a list of much additional funds each district would receive, click here
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For a copy of HB 1544, click here
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PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL DISTRICT FUNDING GAPS 2004-05
Pennsylvania continues to have one of the most unequal education funding systems in the country. An analysis of of the most recent school district spending in Pennsylvania reveals the continuing extensive gaps between the average per student spending by the top 20 percent of Pennsylvania's districts and the per student amounts available in all of the other districts. In 2004-05 the median gap between a district's expenditures and that of the top 20% was $3,109. This is an improvement over the median gap of $3,660 the year before.

The distribution of the gaps in 2004-05 was:
76% of the districts had gaps greater than $2,000 with the average for the top 20%.
54% of the districts had gaps greater than $3,000.
26% of the districts had gaps between $4,000 and $5,721.


In the 268 districts with a $3,000 gap, each class of 25 would have $75,000 less to spend than a typical class in the state's wealthier districts, which would be available to reduce class size, provide advanced placement classes, increase tutoring and extended day programs, provide music, art and full day kindergarten and other programs with proven track records.

The analysis also shows that many of the poorer districts with a high gap are taxing their citizens at a relatively high tax rate. The median tax rate in 2004-05 was 20.0 equalized mills.

Although the number of districts with gaps of $2,000 to $3,000 declined very little from 2003-04 to 2004-05, there was a very substantial decrease in the number of districts with gaps over ,000, from 200 districts to 130 districts. This was a reflection of the increase in the foundation amounts included in the state budget for that year.
For an alphabetical listing of school district gaps and tax rates by county, click here
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For a listing of school district gaps and tax rates by size of the gaps, click here.


PHILADELPHIA'S GAPS
In Philadelphia, the School District spends $2,215 less per student than the average suburban school, and six districts are spending over $5,000 more per student than Philadelphia. The gap with the 20 percent high spending schools in the state was $2,709 per student or $572 million for the entire district each year. By the end of 12 years of schooling the average student in the high spending districts receives $32,000 more in education spending than Philadelphia teens--the equivalent of three years of schooling.

Because of its budget constraints the Philadelphia School District this year has reversed its effort to lower class size in elementary school grades and class sizes are increasing back to 30- the highest in the state.

The Law Center has issued an eleven-point paper outlining the need for State Wide Education Funding Reform in order to provide Equal Educational Opportunity in Philadelphia and other Districts around the state. To see the paper, click here.

To see a breakdown of how many additional dollars each individual school in Philadelphia would receive if Philadelphia were funded as the top 100 districts are, click here.



LAW CENTER URGES GREATER CITY AND STATE FUNDING IN TESTIMONY ON BUDGET CUTS TO SRC AND CITY EDUCATION TASKFORCE
Michael Churchill testified in November that the School District remains inadequately funded for the tasks confronting it. Balancing the budget by cuts alone will prevent accomplishing the goals of class size reduction and improved student achievement. The Law Center called upon the District and City to: 1) document the costs of reducing class size and other educational improvements necessary to bring its students to meeting state standards and federal No Child Left Behind requirements; and 2) joining with other underfunded districts around the state rather than seeking additional funding for the District by itself. To read the testimony before the Educational Taskforce on Nov. 20, 2006 click here. To read the testimony before the SRC on Nov. 10, 2006 click here.


STATEWIDE COALITION TO CLOSE THE GAP
A Statewide Coalition to Close the Gap was formed with Law Center initiative to urge candidates for the General Assembly, both incumbents and challengers, to place full funding for schools at the top of their priority and to sponsor legislation like the Micozzie Successful Schools Bill which will assure adequate funding for all districts.

For copies of the letters sent in May and August detailing why the state must provide full funding for all schools, click here. More than 30 candidates from both parties signed the commitment.

Signatories to the Coalition letter are Joseph F. Bard, Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools; Linda Croushore, Mon Valley Education Consortium; Gary Harke, Pennsylvania Council of Churches; Liz Healey, former Chairperson Pittsburgh School Board, PaTASH; Bonita Hoke, Pennsylvania League of Women Voters; Timothy W. Potts, Carlisle Area School Board Member, Pennsylvania School Reform Network, 1997-2004; Rev. Robert P. Shine, President, Statewide Coalition of BlackClergy; Shelly D. Yanoff, Philadelphia Citizens for Children & Youth; and Cheryl Zaleski, Coatsville Taxpayers Alliance along with Michael Churchill and Thomas K. Gilhool from the Law Center.



PHILADELPHIA BAR ASSOCIATION ADVOCATES IMPROVED EDUCATIONAL FUNDING
At the urging of PILCOP and the Education Law Center, the Philadelphia Bar Association has started an initiative to improve the equality of educational funding in Pennsylvania. In the fall of 2005 the Delivery of Legal Services Committee established the Public Education Reform Subcommittee. The first fruit of the subcommittee was a resolution detailing the problems of the state's educational funding. The resolution requests the state legislature to enact a system of educational funding consistent with the state Constitution by ending the gross disparities which currently exist in educational opportunities depending on where in Pennsylvania a student lives. On January 26, 2006 the Board of Governors unanimously approved the resolution.
Read the Philadelphia Bar Association resolution here
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On October 16, 2006 the Association conducted a forum entitled "How Pennsylvnai School Funding Jeopardizes Philadelphia's Future (And What Can You Do About it)" with Congressman Chaka Fattah, CEO Paul Vallas, and activist Helen Gym. For a report on the conference from the Philadelphia Tribune, click here and the Bar Reporter, click here.



GRANT FROM INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL EQUITY AND OPPORTUNITY
The Law Center has received a $100,000 grant from the Institute to research the history of state constitutional education clauses and to conduct a conference on the subject in October 2007. Despite the fact that the US Supreme Court in 1971 stated that education is not a fundamental right protected by the U.S. Constitution, preliminary research shows that the United States required as a condition of admission for every state after the initial 13 that it's constitution provide for free public education.


PAST ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The Law Center's current work to improve the educational opportunities of minority children in Philadelphia began in 1991 when it was asked by a number of community groups to intervene on their behalf in the city's long running school desegregation lawsuit. As a consequence of the intervention and the orders of Judge Doris Smith-Ribner, the Philadelphia School District established full day kindergarten, began smaller class sizes in elementary grades, instituted a strengthened curriculum and improved instructional practices, and took steps to equalize teacher availability. The Philadelphia school desegregation case is nearly unique among school desegregation cases in its focus on closing the academic gap between minority and white students, as well as the resource gap. Periodically the Law Center issues analysis of district data to evaluate the progress in creating a more equal and integrated School District.

The Law Center, with the City and the School District filed an educational adequacy case, based on the Pennsylvania Constitutional provision requiring the General Assembly "establish and maintain a thorough and efficient system of public education." The case, Marrero v. Commonwealth, was patterned after the successful New Jersey litigation based on the exact same constitutional provision. As part of the case the Law Center filed a brief reviewing the history of education clauses in the state's constitutions. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in contrast to the courts faced with similar suits in every other state with similar provisions, refused to allow state judicial review of the legislature's non-compliance. For a copy of the Pa.Supreme Court opinion click here. To read the Law Center's constitutional history, click here.

As a consequence, the Law Center in 1998 filed Powell v. Ridge in federal court as an innovative challenge under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to obtain federal review of the state's unequal funding. The case alleged that the way in which public schools are funded discriminates against predominantly minority school districts. To read the Complaint, click here. Although the Third Circuit upheld the Complaint, subsequent changes by the Supreme Court in federal law removed any right to sue to prevent such disparities.

Although the litigation was ultimately unsuccessful, the Law Center's efforts, along with its coalition partners, focused public attention on the gap in education funding which needs to be legitimately addressed. The Law Center has worked to make the case for reform in several state legislative hearings and in testimony before City Council. Other efforts to improve educational opportunities for Philadelphia students included an attempt to increase college opportunities by filing a suit to enforce a city ordinance and agreement with the University of Pennsylvania that required the university to award 125 full tuition scholarships annually. Although the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court narrowly held the provision unenforceable, the University significantly increased its scholarships to Philadelphia students.




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