Lawsuit says school funding is unfair

through the formula — meaning disparities still exist between rich and poor districts.

“You’re basically saying, ‘They’re rearranging the deck chairs, and what we need is a bigger boat,’” said Judge Michael Wojcik.

Besides Johnstown, plaintiffs include the William Penn School District and parents in Philadelphia and Delaware County, the Panther Valley School District in Carbon County, the School District of Lancaster, the Wilkes-Barre Area School District in Luzerne County, and the Shenandoah Valley School District in Schuylkill County. The NAACP and the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools filed on behalf of their members.

Michael Vuckovich, interim superintendent of the Greater Johnstown School District, said that since he’s taken over the financially struggling district, he has had to close a school building, eliminate programs and lay off staff. Almost half his students live in poverty.

“We are unable to provide the much-needed supports they deserve,” Mr. Vuckovich said at a news conference after the hearing. “The commonwealth is, quite simply, failing our children.”

Jamella and Bryant Miller, Lansdowne residents and parents of two students in the William Penn School District, said the evidence of the lackluster education their son and daughter receive is all around them — the lack of textbooks and technology, the crumbling buildings. On rainy days, they said, their daughter’s coat comes home soaked because the ceiling in the classroom coat closet leaks.

“We pay taxes just like everybody else,” said Jamella Miller. “And we pay more because we’re in a failing district, and that’s unfair.”