Funding Schools Fairly

Funding Schools Fairly: Law and Policy

Pennsylvania has three main sources of law on school funding.

The Pennsylvania Constitution requires "a thorough and efficient system of public education."
Other Pennsylvania laws lay out, in general ways, how state money can be spent.
The annual state budget contains most of the details on funding for public education.

There are three main policy issues affecting education funding in Pennsylvania:

Adequacy. Most public schools do not spend enough money per student to give all children an adequate education and a fair chance for success. Pennsylvania has never conducted an official "adequacy study" to determine the actual amount per child needed to provide a quality education.
Equity. There is little equity between the spending levels in different school districts. Some districts spend more than twice the amount per student as other districts.
State Share. Pennsylvania provides only 36 percent of the total cost of public education, one of the lowest state shares in the country. Local school districts provide most of the funding for public education through property taxes. This means that wealthy districts have more money to spend on education than poorer districts.

For a more detailed discussion about these issues, see our fact sheet, Funding Public Schools in Pennsylvania.