ALLENTOWN, Pa. — While a court order has tasked state lawmakers and Gov. Josh Shapiro with overhauling the way Pennsylvania funds its school districts, don't expect major shifts to the state's flawed school funding formula to come right away.
Instead, Rep. Peter Schweyer, D-Lehigh and chair of the House Education Committee, said he expects the lawmakers to negotiate a short-term patch until officials in Harrisburg can give it more attention during next year's budget process.
"The God's honest truth is I don't know that we're going to be in a position with Gov. Shapiro right now being this far into the budget process to shake it up dramatically," Schweyer said.
- Gov. Josh Shapiro has proposed a $567.4 million increase in funding for basic education across Pennsylvania
- The boost, however, doesn't address existing flaws in the funding formula that underfund poor districts across the state
- Rep. Peter Schweyer said lawmakers will likely need to find a short-term solution before tackling a new funding formula next year
Last month, a Commonwealth Court judge found the state's funding of basic education is unconstitutional. Poor school districts successfully argued they were systematically underfunded to the tune of billions of dollars, violating students' rights by failing to provide them an education that allowed them "an opportunity to succeed academically, socially and civically."
The resulting court order did not include a timetable for state government to fix those funding discrepancies, which eases the burden on government officials. Pennsylvania governors entering their first year in office have less time than normal to draft a proposed budget, and Shapiro will need to negotiate with a politically divided legislature. Throw in the fact that leadership in the House and Senate has changed, and the task becomes even more complicated on a short timeline.
"This is a strong foot forward with increases to be able to start the process of where we're looking forward and not looking in the rearview mirror."Khalid Mumin, Pa. Education Secretary
Shapiro's first budget does include a 7.8% increase in funding for basic education, which amounts to a $567.4 million boost for districts across the state. It also adds $100 million for matching grants to school districts making repairs to school buildings. In testimony last week before the House Appropriations Committee, Acting Secretary of Education Khalid Mumin said the administration wanted to make serious investments in Pennsylvania's education system as it grapples with how to make the necessary changes to the funding formula.
"This first budget is not one where we want to take it easy and see what happens in the second budget. This is a strong foot forward with increases to be able to start the process of where we're looking forward and not looking in the rearview mirror," Mumin said.
Schweyer commended the proposed budget as a good starting point for lawmakers. But it also exposes the inherent flaws within the current system, he said. The Allentown School District, one of the five largest in the state, will receive an 8% funding boost from the investment in basic education. However, the smaller, wealthier Parkland School District next door would see approximately a 16% boost.
"Each and every one of those kids deserves everything they're getting, but so do the kids in Allentown and Salisbury," Schweyer said.
And while government planners and may favor a slow, methodical approach that will churn out a five-year plan, that's little help to the thousands of students currently enrolled in underfunded districts across Pennsylvania, Schweyer said. He said state leaders need to begin planning for next year's budget now even as they wrestle with a stop-gap solution to the existing formula.
It's likely lawmakers will re-form one of the committees that's explored education funding in recent years, such as the 2030 Commission, while this budget is still being approved.
One step Schweyer is optimistic about is increasing the funding for the Level Up program, a state initiative that provides extra funding to 100 low income districts across the state, including the Bethlehem Area and Allentown school districts in the Lehigh Valley.
While many of those are inner city districts that favor Democratic politicians such as Philadelphia and York, most of them are rural districts that favor Republicans. As a result, Schweyer was optimistic officials in Harrisburg would be incentivized to increase the $225 million allocation to those schools.
"This is not something that's going to be done lightly. It's going to take time. But again, our students, our parents, our faculty, our districts also can't wait around for two or three or four years for a bunch politicians in Harrisburg to get their act together," Schweyer said.
