School Budget Cuts Affect Roxborough, High-Poverty Districts More

New research demonstrates that Pennsylvania schools with less funding suffer disproportionately when it comes to having funding restored,

Districts that have had the least amount of their funding reinstated since huge statewide budget cuts in 2011 are the same districts that suffer from low income, high poverty, and have higher non-proficiency rates.

The study, entitled “Undermining Educational Opportunity: Pennsylvania’s Unequal Restoration of School Funding,” was executed by the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, which describes itself as a nonpartisan think thank that focuses on how new policies affect working families.

The initial cuts in 2011 were three times higher in high-poverty school districts than in low-poverty districts, according to the study.

Because schools with the poorest achievement scores lost the most funding, a return of funding to high-poverty districts would be the best way to maximize student achievement across the state, the study says.

Philadelphia schools lost $1,416 per student during the 2011 cuts, one of the highest cuts in the entire state. In 2015, that cut rate is down only to $1,187.

In Chester County, Oxford lost the most per student in 2015, at $476. Coatesville, Octorara, Phoenixville, and Avon Grove also lost significant amounts.

In Montgomery County, Norristown is the district that has the most cuts per student in 2015, at $306. Other higher poverty districts like Pottstown, Souderton, Pottsgrove, Upper Perkiomen, and Bryn Athyn follow closely behind.

Those schools are also the schools that suffered the most upon the initial cuts in 2011. Bryn Athyn suffered the most of any school, losing $1,231 per student in 2011.

Full stats for nearby counties are provided below, courtesy of the study: