PA's Public School Funding Violates Student Rights, Judge Rules

PENNSYLVANIA — The state's current public education funding procedures violates students' constitutional rights, according to a Commonwealth Court ruling issued Tuesday. But how to resolve that problem remains unclear.

In a massive decision nearly 800 pages long, Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer ruled that the state has deprived students in poorer school districts with the same resources provided to children in more wealthy districts.

In essence, the problem is this: School districts are funded by local property taxes. Residents of more affluent communities pay more in levies than those with lower property values, providing more funding in more wealthy areas.

Cohn Jubelirer asserted that students in communities with low property values and incomes "are deprived of the same opportunities and resources as students who reside in school districts with high property values and incomes." She ruled that there is no legitimate reason for the funding disparities.

Cohn Jubelirer did not issue any mandate as to how to address the funding disparity, admitting that the court is in "unchartered territory with this landmark case." Elected officials and school districts will have to solve the issue, she stated in the ruling.

The lawsuit was filed by six school districts, four parents and two statewide organizations against former Gov. Tom Wolf, state education officials and Republican legislative leaders.

The school districts involved are the William Penn in Delaware County; Panther Valley in Carbon County; Lancaster in Lancaster County; Greater Johnstown in Cambria County; Wilkes-Barre in Luzerne County and Shenandoah Valley in Schuylkill County.

The organizations were the state conference of the NAACP and the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools.

The Education Law Center and Public Interest Law Center, which assisted the plaintiffs in the case issued a joint statement commending the ruling.

"The decision declaring Pennsylvania’s school funding system unconstitutional is a historic victory for Pennsylvania’s public school children,. It will change the future for millions of families, so that children are no longer denied the education they deserve. The court recognized that our schools require adequate funding to meet our constitution’s mandate."

Pennsylvania has 500 school districts ranging in size from 200 to 140,000 students, according to the state Department of Education.