State must address unfair public school funding system

Many in our country have had their consciousness awakened to long-standing fundamental inequities disproportionately impacting communities and people of color. In the wake of the tragic murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others, and in the midst of a global pandemic, we have all been called to acknowledge and confront systemic racism.

In Pennsylvania, the Legislative Black Caucus courageously advanced the policy conversation by demanding votes on languished police reforms, but the conversation cannot end there. We must address the racial and socioeconomic inequities and injustices in our public school system.

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional, as separate schools provided for unequal access to education and opportunity.

Yet racial and economic segregation persist in public education throughout the nation. Pennsylvania is no exception. The commonwealth ranks 44th in the nation in terms of its investment in education, paying only 38% of the cost of education on average. The responsibility to fund education is left to local communities that have vastly different abilities to raise necessary dollars.

Consider these examples of local taxing capacity per weighted student of neighboring school districts. If taxing at the same rate, the Lower Merion School District would raise $32,441 per student, while Philadelphia and Norristown would only raise $3,685 and $7,505, respectively. In Lehigh County, the Parkland School District would receive $13,260 per student at the same time Allentown would only generate $2,626.

White student enrollment constitutes 14% of enrollment in Philadelphia, 15% in Norristown and 9% in Allentown. On the other hand, white student enrollment hits 70% in Lower Merion and 64% in Parkland.

Starting with less — less education, less access, less income, less opportunity — makes the future that much harder. The pandemic has painted it in stark contrast. Some students were almost immediately connected to their teachers through technology, while others were working with photocopied worksheets. Money matters in education.

When we address the systemic racial and socioeconomic inequities of our funding mechanisms, we will make real progress toward closing the achievement gap between white and black students. Along the way, we need to diversify Pennsylvania’s 96% white educator workforce — the least diverse in the country.

We can combat these inequities by increasing the state’s investments in education.

The culprit preventing every school district from receiving its fair share is a policy commonly called hold-harmless, which is really a misnomer. For many communities of color, the effect is “hold-harmed.” This policy guarantees a base amount for each school district, baking in the inequitable distributions of the past.

If “hold-harmed” were eliminated, Norristown would receive an additional $16 million, Philadelphia an additional $402 million, Allentown an additional $87 million, and Sto-Rox an additional $3 million.

It is time to address these inequities once and for all. The Legislature must start by getting to work to pass a full budget that prioritizes a quality education for all children, regardless of their race or ZIP code. The only way forward is to put the politics and the partisanship aside and work together to create a better Pennsylvania for everyone.