Pennsylvania's Costing-Out Study
What's going on?
On November 14, the Pennsylvania State Board of Education released its statewide costing-out study. This study evaluates, on a district by district basis, the real cost of educating all Pennsylvania students.
ELC has prepared a brief summary of the results of the study. You can also download the full study.
Public briefings on the study are coming up soon. We hope you'll attend! For information about times and locations, click here.
For ELC's fact sheets on school funding in Pennsylvania and the costing-out study, visit our Publications page. And for more information, contact ELC staff: Sandy Zelno (Pittsburgh), Baruch Kintisch (Philadelphia), or Josh Varon (Philadelphia).
How to Get Involved
1) STAY INFORMED! Keep up-to-date with the study and related developments in school funding reform by checking our "News and Updates" section below and reading background information under "Tools and Resources."
2) SPREAD THE WORD!
- Attend meetings or events in your area (check back on this page for announcements about any meetings we hold).
- Convene a meeting of stakeholders (teachers, parents, school administrators, students, business leaders, etc.) in your community. For guidance on how to lead a meeting like this, see our publication "Guidelines for Additional Forums" under Tools and Resources.
- Write to your local legislators encouraging them to support the study and statewide education finance reform. Click here to find your senators and representatives in the PA General Assembly.
- Contact your local news reporters and encourage them to cover the issue. You can point them to information on our website as a starting point.
3) SHARE YOUR STORIES! One of the most effective ways to get policymakers to understand how urgently funding reform is needed is to provide them with lots of firsthand evidence. Send us your personal stories and photographs about what it's been like for you or your children to learn or work in an underfunded school.
For more information, contact Baruch Kintisch in our Philadelphia office or Sandy Zelno in our Pittsburgh office.