Basic Education Funding Commission Plan Could Be Life-Changing for Pa. Students
The proposal from the bipartisan commission charged with developing a remedy for the state’s unconstitutional school funding system sets targets for adequate funding in every school district, based on student need and current spending in successful districts. In the proposal, adopted Jan. 11, 2024, commissioners acknowledge a total funding shortfall statewide of $5.4 billion and…
MoreHistoric Victory in the Fight for Fair Funding!
On Feb. 7, Commonwealth Court Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer issued her ruling in the Pennsylvania school funding case. The Education Law Center-PA and the Public Interest Law Center, who represent petitioners in the case, released the following joint statement: “Today’s decision declaring Pennsylvania’s school funding system unconstitutional is a historic victory for Pennsylvania’s public school children. It will…
MoreRead ELC’s New Special Education Funding Report
The Education Law Center’s new report Fixing the Special Education Funding Gap details the large decline in the state share of special education funding over the past decade. Inadequate funding for basic education and special education programs creates a dual funding gap, one that particularly affects students in low wealth school districts. These districts serve…
MoreOn school funding, Pennsylvania is not doing its job. That’s why we’re in court.
Education Law Center executive director Deborah Gordon Klehr wrote, “All Pennsylvanians need to know that our state is failing by inadequately and inequitably funding our schools. Pennsylvania once made a legislative commitment that 50% of education funding would come from the state ‒ but that commitment was not enforced and was abandoned decades ago.” Read…
MoreSchool Funding Lawsuits Move the Needle on Fairness
Education Law Center executive director Deborah Gordon Klehr wrote about the history of school funding lawsuits that have been filed in dozens of states besides Pennsylvania. “We see from the experience of other states that school funding lawsuits have been strikingly successful at moving the needle toward fairness,” she wrote. “Decisions in such lawsuits spur…
MoreTentative Trial Date Is Set in Pennsylvania School Funding Lawsuit
Public school students in Pennsylvania will soon have their day in court. A Commonwealth Court order released April 1 tentatively scheduled a trial start date of September 9, 2021, in a historic lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania’s school funding system. [Note: The trial start date was ultimately pushed back to Nov. 12.] Attorneys expect the trial to last several…
MoreFunding Lawsuit Moves Closer to Trial with Ruling That Parents Will Remain in Case
In a ruling March 8 by Commonwealth Court, a judge held that two Pennsylvania parents who were among those who filed the landmark lawsuit in 2014 challenging Pennsylvania’s school funding system as unconstitutional will be able to pursue their claims, even though their children have now graduated from high school. The ruling is a victory…
MoreFunding Increases in PA Budget Are Welcomed but Not Sufficient, ELC Says
The tentative budget agreement between Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf and legislative leaders that was announced on June 24 includes a significant boost in special education funding. There are other bright spots in the budget, but state education funding still falls far below what is needed. ELC executive director Deborah Gordon Klehr issued a statement on the…
MoreELC Responds to 2019-20 Budget Proposal of Gov. Wolf
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced his proposed 2019-20 budget before the General Assembly on Feb. 5. The Education Law Center and other child advocacy groups had urged the governor to make a bold school funding proposal, including $400 million in new funds for basic education and $100 million for special education. The increases in is…
MoreFair Funding Lawsuit Goes to Trial Nov. 12, 2021
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has scheduled our historic fair funding lawsuit for trial with a start date of Nov. 12, 2021. All children in PA have the right to a high-quality public education. This isn’t just an opinion – it’s the law, written into the state constitution in the 1870s. But in PA, not every child…
MoreTestimony: Philadelphia City Council Hearing on the Philadelphia School District and Board of Education
At the first Philadelphia City Council hearing since schools came under the tenure of the city’s new board of education, ELC policy director Reynelle Brown Staley gave testimony on November 27, highlighting the centrality of resource issues for the school district. “The fact that Philadelphia schools simply don’t have enough resources is in part a…
MoreOpposition Brief to Mootness Application Filed in School Funding Case
Funding gaps between high-wealth and low-wealth districts are growing, and state funding for classroom expenses has declined over four years. Those are key points in our latest brief in the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court case filed by parents, school districts, and two statewide associations challenging Pennsylvania’s broken school funding system. In May, the Court directed the…
MoreSchool Funding Lawsuit Advances
On May 7, 2018, the Commonwealth Court overruled objections filed by state legislative leaders and moved our school funding lawsuit closer to trial. Read about the Court’s decision and our next steps for resolving underfunding and gross inequalities in Pennsylvania’s schools.
MoreCommonwealth Court Holds Oral Argument in ELC’s Funding Case
Not even a snowstorm could halt the momentum of ELC’s Fair Funding Lawsuit, as advocates from ELC, PILC, and pro bono counsel O’Melveny and Myers argued today that objections filed by the defendants were without merit and should be dismissed, allowing the case to move to discovery and trial. Details, including links to news coverage…
MoreELC Applauds Gov. Wolf’s Education Budget Proposals, but PA Still Has Far to Go.
Education Law Center Executive Director Deborah Gordon Klehr applauded Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed increases in funding for basic education, special education, early education, and career and technical education in his Feb. 6 budget address. But the state still has far to go, she said in a press statement, to achieve an adequate and equitable funding…
MoreGovernor Wolf Withdraws Objections And Agrees School Funding Lawsuit Should Move Forward Swiftly
In a January 25 court filing, Governor Wolf, on behalf of Pennsylvania’s Executive Branch, dropped all previous objections and requested that the Commonwealth Court move our fair funding case forward. Legislative respondents continue to oppose the case moving forward; Senator Scarnati filed a brief blaming poor school districts for their own underfunding. Read the joint…
More24 Pennsylvania Organizations Join Together to Oppose ESA Voucher Senate Bill
On January 19, 2018, ELC joined 23 other organizations, including teachers, other school workers, school administrators, school boards, advocates, faith-based organizations, and non-partisan civic organizations such as the League of Women Voters, to oppose PA Senate Bill 2. The Bill is a school voucher proposal masquerading as an Education Savings Account program. The Bill is…
MorePa. Supreme Court Delivers Major Victory for Schoolchildren across the Commonwealth in School Funding Case
On September 28, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court delivered a major victory to hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania students by ordering the Commonwealth Court to hold a trial on whether state officials are violating the state’s constitution by failing to adequately and equitably fund public education. The lawsuit – William Penn School District, et al. v….
MoreEducation Law Center opposes stealth voucher bill in PA legislature.
The Education Law Center joined with partners from across the Commonwealth to oppose HB 1717, “education savings account” legislation, an ill-conceived voucher program that would allow state dollars to fund private schools that discriminate against children with disabilities and others. Read our September 2017 Memo to the House Education Committee.
MoreWe’re committed to protecting students’ civil rights
November, 2016 The Education Law Center-PA (ELC) is deeply concerned by ongoing racist, homophobic, xenophobic, and misogynistic rhetoric and incidents in schools. We assure our partners across the state that we will continue holding school districts to their legal obligations to maintain a school atmosphere where students can thrive and do not face fears of…
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