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 change the future for millions of families, so that children are no longer denied the education they deserve. The court recognized that our schools require adequate funding to meet our constitution’s mandate.  It’s time for our state legislature to fund public schools in every corner of Pennsylvania so all students, whether or not they live in a wealthy community, can receive the quality public education guaranteed in our state constitution.”

Read our press release and the full decision.

We’ve spent many years in the fight for fair school funding, so we are thrilled about this decision. We know this is a mighty win for students across the state of PA!

Last night, the Pennsylvania House and Senate finally both approved a new state budget for 2023-24.

With our co-counsel at the Public Interest Law Center, we issued a joint statement on the state budget and the blocking of a private school voucher bill. Read our statement here.

There is critical work to be done in the months ahead to “devise a comprehensive, constitutionally compliant school funding plan to ensure, once and for all, that all children have access to the contemporary, effective system of public education that the constitution mandates, that our children need, and that the decision of the Commonwealth Court requires.”

The fight to fix PA’s unconstitutional funding system must and will continue.