Fair funding would level field for NEPA schools

Feb. 16—Fair funding in Hazleton Area School District could mean a larger career center, smaller classes, a special education program for local students who now travel beyond the district for instruction and a field house for indoor sports and the prom.

Scranton School District with fair funding could update its curriculum, create a science and math academy and attract and retain a high-quality staff.

In Carbondale, the district could offer more electives, provide tutoring and restore cuts made to art and family and consumer sciences.

At Riverside, libraries could become innovative labs and the district could find additional ways to help students prepare for life after graduation.

The way Pennsylvania funds school districts, which Gov. Tom Wolf and public education advocates call one of the most unfair systems in the country, makes it difficult for districts to achieve those goals. The 2021-22 state budget proposed by the governor this month aims to fix that. Just the proposal and the debate surrounding it highlights and exposes the inequities in a way not done before on a statewide level, experts say.

Wolf's plan would provide an additional $159 million to school districts in Northeast Pennsylvania by putting all funding through a formula designed to increase equity and assist the students who need the most help.

While Republican legislators have called Wolf's budget proposal, which relies on an increase in personal income taxes for some residents, "dead on arrival," advocates say the proposal is a major step in solving the school funding crisis.

Education organizations, including PA Schools Work and the Education Law Center, have found:

—Pennsylvania has the widest funding gap between wealthy and poor school districts of any state in the country, with the wealthiest school districts spending 33% more on each student than the poorest districts.

—The state's share of total district spending is 38%, which ranks the state 44th in the country. The national median is 48%. As a result of the lower state contribution, Pennsylvania school districts rely more on local property taxes to fund budgets. That creates significant disparities between high wealth and low wealth districts.

—Pennsylvania spends an average of $4,800 less per pupil in poor districts than on students in rich districts, and the average revenue gap between the poorest and richest districts has grown by $1,000 per student over the past decade.

"It's not fair that poor children and children of color go to school where this is happening," said Susan Spicka, executive director of Philadelphia-based Education Voters of Pennsylvania. "Lawmakers in Harrisburg are going to have to deal with looking at the school funding system for what it is: a system that guarantees that the most vulnerable children in Pennsylvania go to school without the resources they need."

Case for fair funding

With bipartisan support, Pennsylvania created a fair funding formula six years ago to distribute money in a way that reflects a district's needs, factoring in student enrollment, the needs of the student population and district wealth and capacity to raise local revenues. But that formula only applies to new investments the state makes in basic education funding, the largest funding source districts receive from the state. The state distributed 11%, or $700 million, of basic education funding through the formula last year. The remaining 89%, or $5.5 billion, is still distributed based on student enrollment in 1992, without considering shifts in student counts or actual costs school districts face today, according to the governor's office.

"Pennsylvania's school funding system is structurally unfair, and that's a problem because it fails students, it fails teachers, it fails communities, it fails all of us," Wolf said earlier this month. "No matter where you live, every student deserves an opportunity to succeed. That's what parents want for their children. And that's what Pennsylvanians, all of us, need for our future."

If all money went through the fair funding formula, more than half of the state's 500 districts would receive less than they did this year. While the governor's proposal runs all existing basic education funding, $6.2 billion, plus a $200 million increase, through the fair funding formula, he wants the state to invest an additional $1.15 billion so no school receives less next year.

His budget proposal also calls for the income tax rate to increase from 3.07% to 4.49%, but offers income tax breaks to many low- to moderate-income taxpayers. The administration says about two-thirds of taxpayers would pay the same or less. House and Senate Republicans say their constituents can't afford to pay additional taxes, especially during the pandemic.

During a news conference after the governor's budget proposal, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Pat Browne, a Republican from Lehigh County, said he would support efforts to increase funding incrementally over time, and not within one year. He said districts would likely be unable to spend the additional money in one year and it would likely sit in reserves.

Falling behind

For more than a decade, mandated expenses, such as pension contributions and charter school tuition, greatly outpaced any additional state money received by school districts. That meant the districts had to rely on increasing local property taxes to help make up the difference.

Scranton School District's instructional costs grew by $25.3 million, or 25%, from 2011 to 2018, while state funding only grew by $2.2 million, or 5%, according to PA Schools Work, a statewide coalition working to increase funding equity. The state placed Scranton in financial recovery in 2019, after the district balanced budgets using borrowed money.

During the same period Hazleton Area instruction costs grew 40% or $28.9 million.

Since the 1960s, population has declined in metropolitan areas, which led to shrinking tax bases, Wolf told The Sunday Times, a Times-Shamrock newspaper. Without new construction or a growing population, a district can only generate additional revenue by increasing property taxes.

That leads to low-wealth school districts often having the highest property taxes. Those districts often have students with high educational needs, including those living in poverty or those requiring English learning or special education services, explained Maura McInerney, legal director for the Education Law Center, which has offices in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Many districts have seen large population changes since 1992, the year in which nearly 90% of current state funding is based. Advocates say the current system does not adequately address needs now.

"Every child should have the same opportunity to be successful, not based on where their parents have settled," said Sandra Miller, the northeast field coordinator for PA Schools Work and a school director in the Saucon Valley School District in Northampton County.

In 2014, the Public Interest Law Center, the Education Law Center, and law firm O'Melveny & Myers jointly filed a lawsuit on behalf of six school districts, including Wilkes-Barre Area, Panther Valley and Shenandoah Valley, asking for a court order to force the Legislature to comply with the state constitution and ensure all students receive access to a high-quality public education.

The case, which was remanded to Commonwealth Court by the state Supreme Court in 2017, could go to trial this year. Regardless of how the governor's proposal fares, the case will continue so the plaintiffs can ensure funding is equitable and adequate, McInerney said.

Local impact

In Northeast Pennsylvania, no district would receive less funding for next year, but 13 of the 37 districts in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties would receive significant increases in basic education funding.

Hazleton Area would gain nearly $20 million, a 50% increase in basic education funding from the state.

For years, Hazleton Area has contended with growing enrollment, including a surge of students who are learning English as a second language. Consequently schools are more crowded and teachers have more students per class, which experts say impedes progress, but Hazleton Area had less money to spend per student than all but five of the state's 499 districts.

On Wednesday, the school board plans to discuss with an architect a plan to reduce crowding and offer more vocational programs by enlarging Hazleton Area Career Center.

"I want to focus on the career center. That's like a sleeping giant," board President Linda DeCosmo said.

The career center in January had 808 students. Enlarging it would allow students to transfer from Hazleton Area High School, which had 2,169 students, into programs that prepared them for occupations after they graduate.

Another service that the board has discussed providing for years is a special education center. Opening the center would let children learn in the Hazleton Area rather than ride buses and vans to schools in other communities. Last year, Hazleton Area paid $2.16 million to 11 special schools, up from $625,655 six years earlier, according to an analysis provided to the board last month.

A field house, which board member Ed Shemansky proposed building three years ago to give teams a place to practice in bad weather, could host other school activities.

"Right now, we have nowhere for a prom," said DeCosmo, now that Genetti's banquet halls have closed.

Riverside School District would receive an additional $4.6 million, an increase of 85.3%.

Superintendent Paul Brennan said the district could reduce its debt, and in turn, reduce property taxes. Riverside would also create more academic opportunities for students.

"We have our wish list and we have our must-haves," Brennan said. "This would be able to clear up the must-haves and get into our wish list a little better."

While the governor's proposal does not specifically call for districts to use the money to reduce property taxes, school leaders said the additional funding would create stability and predictability, allowing them to reduce the need for future tax increases.

"Change like this would put everything on the table," said Katie Gilmartin, president of the Scranton School Board. "The measures proposed by the governor's budget would open up opportunities and options for us we can't even imagine right now."

With all money put through the formula, the district would receive an additional 85.6% in basic education funding, or $39 million. The district could potentially use some of that money to reduce property taxes, Gilmartin said.

Wallenpaupack Area School District, which could receive $5.8 million, an increase of 103%, is unique. The district has high property values because of Lake Wallenpaupack, with many of the houses second homes or vacation rentals. But the district has a lower personal income than districts with similar property values. The fair funding formula puts a greater emphasis on personal income, so the district would benefit greatly, Superintendent Michael Silsby said.

While Wallenpaupack Area spends more per pupil than most area districts, the district ranks seventh in the state with local tax effort. Additional state funding could reduce the burden on local taxpayers, he said.

Leaders said they will closely follow debates on fair funding leading up to the July 1 budget deadline.

"At least right now, the conversation is about equity in school funding, and we've never had that conversation in Pennsylvania," Spicka said.