LESSONS LEARNED: Advocacy fueled region's school funding windfall

When the dust had settled on the adoption of the new $45.2 billion state budget last week, it became clear that one of the biggest funding winners was education and one of the biggest education winners was Montgomery County.

Of the $1.8 billion statewide hike in school funding — the largest school funding increase in 10 years — Montgomery County will receive more than $33.7 million. And about one-third of that money will go to just two school districts — Norristown and Pottstown.

When basic education funding, special education funding and block grants are added together, Norristown will receive an additional $6.4 million and Pottstown $4.5 million in the 2022-23 school year.

“I can’t tell you how much this is game-changing for us and our students,” said Norristown Schools Superintendent Christopher Dormer. The money will immediately be put to use “to implement the kinds of supports we haven’t had for a long time,” he said, singling out 26 new positions for school nurses, reading specialists, math coaches “and every one of them is going to have a direct impact on our children’s education.”

Norristown and Pottstown are among the most chronically underfunded school districts in the state when viewed through the lens of Pennsylvania’s Fair Funding Formula. The formula was enacted in 2016 to steer more state funds to poorer districts in order to provide resources similar to wealthy districts, but the formula is not fully utilized by Harrisburg.

Only new funding is distributed according to the formula’s guidelines, meaning it would take years and a generation of students before poorer districts could catch up in funding and be able to provide the kind of re

sources wealthier districts already enjoy.

Rather than use the formula to distribute all education funding, making it instantly “fair,” Harrisburg invented a whole new vehicle, “Level-Up” funding, to accelerate more state dollars going to underfunded schools. About one-third of the financial boost going to Norristown and Pottstown schools in the coming school year is part of the “Level-Up” program.

That didn’t happen by accident.

‘Leveling Up’

The program spelled out a mechanism for identifying the 100 most underfunded school districts and allocating a supplemental pot of $100 million to these schools to help narrow the state’s vast disparities in funding. The school districts that benefitted from a double dose of funds allocated via the fair funding formula educate 65 percent of Pennsylvania’s Black students, 58 percent of Pennsylvania’s Hispanic students, 58 percent of Pennsylvania’s students in poverty, 64 percent of Pennsylvania’s English learners, 35 percent of Pennsylvania’s students with disabilities, and 32 percent of Pennsylvania’s total student population.

The groups from southeastern Pennsylvania who led the work to enact “Level Up” are ACLAMO, Children First, Education Law Center, Education Voters of PA, Public Interest Law Center, Teach Plus Pennsylvania, and the Urban League of Philadelphia.

“To get level up passed, we know that superintendents, other statewide groups such as the PA Schools Works campaign, the PA School Boards Association, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the Federation of Teachers and POWER also made the case that Pennsylvania’s school funding system is in crisis. and their work assisted in creating the momentum to boost spending for education writ large. The Level Up Coalition delivered this critical double dose for the 100 lowest wealth districts,” said Donna Cooper, executive director of Children First.

“If I’m the educational leader for my community, and I’m not shouting from the rooftops about these extremes, who is going to?” asked Dormer. The answer it seems is “lots of people.”

Parents, educators get involved

For the past several years, a growing coalition of activist groups and school districts have been steadily increasing pressure on the Republicancontrolled legislature to make Pennsylvania’s school funding fairer in terms of equity. Nationally it ranks about 45th in the nation for fairness.

Some of that pressure resulted in ‘level up’ funding, but they did not stop there.

As the stars began to align in this year’s budget talks — an unexpectedly large budget surplus, revenues above expectations, a last-term governor on the hunt for a legacy, and an election year for many legislators — the pieces were in place for a big push, and the experience and relationships built during prior years came into play, advocates said.

“This was not a one-year, two-year, but a six-year fight,” said Dormer talking about the benefits of persistence. “We didn’t burn any bridges, but when legislators see me coming, they know I’m coming to talk about my kids so when the conditions were ripe, they knew what we were going to ask.”

When those conditions were ripe, advocates were ready.

Organized efforts

Since last year, groups like Pennsylvanians for Fair Funding, Education Voters, Children First, POWER Interfaith and more have been expanding their efforts and coordinating across the state — in State College, the Lehigh Valley, the Lancaster, York and Harrisburg areas — about which legislators to target, and when.

“We wanted to be strategic and persistent,” said Laura Johnson, a Pottstown School Board member and co-founder of Pennsylvanians for Fair Funding. “There was a surplus last year, too, and last year’s budget, which saw a small increase, was largely, in my view, a missed opportunity. We didn’t want that to happen again.

“So basically, we started planning last summer, to identify which lawmakers had the most influence, were in favor of fair funding, and needed the most encouragement to act,” Johnson said.

“This $525,000,000 in new basic education funding is the largest single-year increase in this decade, “read a statement issued by POWER. “Counties where POWER Interfaith organizes will get 61 percent” of the new “level-up” money.

“The ‘Level Up’ funding in this year’s budget is another overdue payment that will help to inch our most inequitably funded school districts along the long road toward adequacy. And while this ‘Level Up’ allocation is not a systemic fix to the inadequacy and inequity of Pennsylvania’s funding system, it is giving these districts a meaningful payment, a step toward a more level playing field for Pennsylvania’s 1.7 million public school students,” said Deborah Gordon Klehr, executive director of the Education Law Center.

“Every student in Pennsylvania deserves a chance at success, and ‘level up’ gives students who have missed out because of the zip code they are born into a boost they deserve,” said Susan Spicka, Executive Director, Education Voters of Pennsylvania.

“I’m so grateful to groups like Power and Education Voters and Children First,” Dormer said, “because they can do the research I don’t have time to do. So when I go to Harrisburg, I can show legislators that this isn’t just about Norristown, or Pottstown, which don’t have a tax base like a Lower Merion. This is about helping all kids. And I know from my advocacy with Stephen (Rodriguez) at the Pennsylvania League for Urban Schools Caucus, that when you lift up a Pottstown or a Norristown, a Coatesville or a Reading, you lift up the whole commonwealth. It’s money well-spent.”

“I don’t think what we saw happen this year would have happened without advocacy,” said Pottstown Schools Superintendent Stephen Rodriquez, who is also the head of the Pennsylvania League of Urban Schools caucus. “I don’t think the importance of advocacy can be understated.”

Supporters showed up

Rallies, filling buses from the Pottstown area, phone calls, emails, regular visits — having a day in Harrisburg literally called “advocacy day” when people flood the halls of the capitol knocking on doors and making their case — all had a cumulative effect, advocates said.

“For the last six years we have been fighting this fight and without the constantly increasing pressure from the public, I think it’s very possible that the legislators may have made different choices,” Rodriguez said.

Despite all these efforts, Republican legislators have often responded to calls for fair school funding by saying it is not an issue about which they get calls, letters or emails from their constituents, moving it down their budget priority list. This year, advocates vowed that would not be the case. And, legislators listened. “I heard from well over 1,000 constituents who told me education was their top budget priority — one elementary school student even sent a hand-written note advocating for her school. I can’t wait to share this news with her,” said state Sen. Maria Collett, D-12th Dist.

“This budget makes a historic $1.1 billion investment in education, including $79 million for Head Start and Pre-K Counts and nearly $80 million to the nine school districts I currently represent, a more than $10 million increase compared to the current year,” she said.

“This product of bipartisan negotiations delivers help for our underfunded schools, relief for our property taxpayers, and investments in boosting our economy and creating high-quality jobs for years, paying dividends for many years to come,” said state Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-146th Dist.

“By expanding ‘level up’ funding and adding on substantial funding increases for our region’s historically underfunded public schools, this budget is a victory for our children, parents, teachers and property taxpayers,” he said.

“Schools are receiving record increases across the board for basic education, special education, Head Start, career and technical education, mental health, and safety and security. In total, we are looking at approximately $15 billion in Prek-12 education funding,” said state Rep. Tracy Pennycuick, R-147th Dist. “This funding will go a long way locally to make sure our students are receiving the best education possible.”

“This spending plan provides meaningful support for schools and vital services while helping to ensure longterm fiscal stability,” state Sen. Bob Mensch, R-24th Dist., said. “Pennsylvania will be well positioned for the economic challenges ahead.”

“There is a lot to unpack in Senate Bill 1100, including the $850 million more in the budget for K-12 basic education funding,” said state Rep. Napoleon Nelson, D-154th Dist.

“In total, the budget aims to make a large impact across the commonwealth and right here in our community. No budget is perfect, but each budget should reflect our top priorities and this one displays our priorities in our children, our seniors and the future of business in Pennsylvania,” Nelson said.

“There is more work to be done, and I have a great deal more to learn, but I am encouraged by this budget and the resources that will begin to make their way into each of our neighborhoods,” Nelson said.

Rodriguez said he has been getting texts and messages from leaders of underfunded districts around the state talking about the things the additional funding will allow. “It’s been a tough road, with the pandemic, masks and other challenges in addition to our time devoted to the fight for fair funding, but our message got through,” he said.

“I don’t think we’re done advocating for fair funding, but the money in this budget will make a big difference,” Rodriquez said.

‘War is not over’

“The war is not over,” said Dormer noting that despite the jump in Norristown’s funding, it’s still only half what it’s owed through the fair funding formula, “but this battle is definitely won.”

“We know that we haven’t fully arrived — that we have more fights ahead toward full, fair funding,” said Will Fuller, regional director of POWER Metro.

“Together we showed that a few dedicated, clear-spoken people can make historic change even in the midst of hard times; that the path may be long and rocky, but real justice isn’t just theory — it’s possible,” he said.