State has money to boost funding for schools now

The state in which Gov. Tom Wolf will deliver his budget proposals this month has a different financial outlook than in any other year of his two terms as governor.

Wolf will likely propose increases in education spending, as he does nearly every year, but this time, those increases might not face the usual opposition. Pennsylvania is flush with cash, including $6 billion in federal funds to mitigate the effects of COVID on children and schools.

The money comes with conditions, limiting the categories in which it can be spent and the time frame to spend it. “… Pennsylvania school districts have the monumental task of spending $6 billion in (federal COVID) funds by September 2024,” according to a report by the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials and the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools.

So far, the report states, the majority of the federal money has not been spent. Only about $1.1 billion of the about $6.3 billion in funding has been included in district budgets.

Also limiting is how the money can be used, primarily to address the learning gaps brought on by school closings mandated in the early months of the pandemic. State-mandated closures in March 2020 caught schools by surprise, and they scrambled to change teaching methods and ensure students had the technology needed to adapt.

Some of those costs are being recouped by districts, and some districts are using funds to pay for expanded summer school and tutoring programs. Funds are also being used to enhance mental health resources for students to combat the effects of isolation and fear created by the pandemic.

But having the money to try to repair damage has not solved school districts’ problems or shortfalls. Supply chain issues are affecting the ability to invest in technology, and shortages in the labor pool, particularly of bus drivers and substitute teachers, are at a critical level.

The largest concern for school districts has been getting their hands on parts to repair equipment, the PASBO report found, followed by the availability of technology equipment. As for the labor pool, some districts are seeking volunteers to teach and a few administrators have pursued getting their own commercial licenses to drive buses.

Availability of money without raising taxes is a new one for Pennsylvania school districts. Democrats in the Legislature are proposing using a large part of the funds to boost school funding and address the long-standing funding inequities. Many had hoped that would happen last year, but a compromise budget with the Republican legislative majority kept money in reserves and didn’t go very far in addressing the funding shortfalls of millions of dollars in Reading, Pottstown and Norristown.

Democratic legislators are proposing adding $1.1 billion to basic education funding through the fair funding formula; $750 million through the Level Up program that targets the 200 most underfunded school districts; $1.1 billion to remediate toxic school buildings; $250 million to recruit and train teachers; $125 million to provide mental health support to students, and $100 million to provide academic support to students, according to an analysis by the Pennslvania Budget and Policy Center.

Meanwhile, the eyes of fair school funding proponents are on a lawsuit brought by a group of school districts against the state. The suit is midway through a months-long trial in Commonwealth Court challenging the funding method for public education in Pennsylvania.

Advocates both for fair school funding and property tax reform have argued for decades that a more equitable way to fund education would be with taxes that do not depend on zip code, such as income taxes and sales tax. Those arguments have perennially failed.

Addressing education funding shortfalls with targeted spending of federal dollars involves sending more money to districts that need it most through fair funding formulas and Level Up allocations. The danger is that funds are temporary, and districts may find themselves in worse shape when they have to replace that COVID aid in a few years with local revenue.

That danger, however, can’t preclude seizing the opportunity to help schools recover from the past two years. Legislators can set a new course to funding equity without raising taxes. They have an obligation to get this done right and make school funding whole.