Local school tax hikes demand state legislative solutions

Much has been made of the inequities built into the state’s system of education funding.

It has gotten so bad that a group of parents headed by a family in the William Penn School District in Delaware County has taken the state to court, arguing that the state system fails in its constitutional mandate to provide an equal education for all students.

Their point is a simple one. For far too long, the state system has penalized students in struggling districts, offering them an inferior education, for no other reason than their zip code.

Well-to-do districts are able to raise more revenue with their property taxes than impoverished districts where the economy is struggling.

In other words, it all comes back to an antiquated system of reliance on the property tax to fund education.

In Montgomery County, Pottstown School District has become a poster child for the inequities in education and a leader in advocating for fair funding.

That advocacy has become louder and more frequent in the past year, culminating last week in a trip to Harrisburg with the religious advocacy group POWER.

POWER gathered more than 400 clergy, students, parents, school board members, activists and administrators to its “100% Funding Day of Action” rally at the capitol last Wednesday, calling Pennsylvania’s unequal distribution of state education money — recognized as the worst in the nation and shown by several studies to be more unfair to minority communities — “educational apartheid.”

Pottstown School District Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez spoke at the rally, taking the message of struggling school districts to lawmakers who have for years passed bills that do nothing to fix the system of taxation and school funding.

Rodriguez borrowed a theme from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by saying “the time is always right to do what is right and providing for fair and equitable funding for our students regardless of their race, their economic status or their zip code is what’s right.”

“We don’t lack knowledge about this problem. We don’t lack solutions” to unfair funding Rodriguez told the crowd.

“Our legislature has already recognized the problem and adopted a way to fix it. We have a formula in place that we know would equitably address the problems of 135 school districts that are under-funded across the Commonwealth,” Rodriguez said.

“And we don’t lack for legislative language,” he said. “The only thing we lack is the political will to get it done.”

That political will has resulted in legislation to benefit the constituencies of legislative leaders over the years rather that address the need for an overhaul of state education funding.

The “hold harmless” clause that states no school district can receive less in funding exacerbates funding inequity rather than cures it.

Pottstown School Board approved a budget with a tax increase last week, as did the Upper Darby district and a host of others in this region.

The state meanwhile pushed through a budget ahead of schedule with no tax increase.

Homeowners complain property tax increases are forcing them out of their homes, and many blame local school boards and town councils for the burden. In Pottstown, even the hospital gets criticized for its non-profit status that exempts the property from being taxed.

None of those local entities is a culprit.

As long as the property tax remains the source of local school funding, the inequities and unfairness exist.

Several of the legislators in this region have signed on to a bill being championed by the activist group Equity First, that would speed up the pace at which state education funding is directed to underfunded schools.

The reality is that legislative leaders get bills moved through a sluggish legislative process, and their motivation in this election year lies in their own central Pennsylvania districts, not in the struggling towns of our region.

A fair school funding formula is in place.

Property tax reform has been discussed and debated for decades.

But reform requires courage and conviction to do the right thing for all children of Pennsylvania.

We have yet to see that happen in Harrisburg.