Pennsylvania is one of just three states in the country that lack such a formula, a situation that has led, experts say, to the single most inequitable system of allocating education dollars in the nation. But that might change if a proposal by a bipartisan commission created during the Corbett administration is adopted.
Month: June 2015
PA House Education Budget Is Woefully Inadequate To Meet Student Needs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Deborah Gordon Klehr, [email protected], 215-346-6920
PA House Education Budget Is Woefully Inadequate To Meet Student Needs:
It’s Time to Stop Shortchanging our Children
June 28, 2015
By a vote of 112-77, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a budget yesterday that continues to underfund our schools and does not reflect a true commitment to ensuring that all of Pennsylvania’s children receive a quality education. On net, the House’s education budget only provides an additional $8 million for K-12 public education and the average increase per school district is only 1.7 percent. The Legislature’s budget appropriates only a fraction of what many say is required to serve the documented needs of students. It is also less than 25 percent of the new money recommended in the Governor’s budget for basic education and only 20 percent of new money recommended for special education.
“This is a woefully inadequate investment in the future of our public school children,” said Education Law Center’s Executive Director Deborah Gordon Klehr.
The Senate is expected to vote on the same budget today. “We urge the Legislature to appropriate $410 million in new dollars for basic education and $100 million in additional special education funding,” said Klehr. Restoration is needed to close the gaps created by the 2011 reductions in public school funding, which crippled our schools and exacerbated funding disparities across school districts. “First restore the cuts, then apply the funding formula as adopted by the Basic Education Funding Commission. This is a thoughtful, well-crafted formula based on the real costs of educating students, but it is only as good as the funding that is driven through it.”
The nearly $1 billion in cuts to basic education funding in 2011 cost 20,000 educators their jobs, forced students into larger class sizes, and eliminated key academic programs and basic services.
Special education had been flat-funded for six years until last year’s modest increase. This year, the Governor’s budget included an additional increase of $100 million in special education funding. This is essential for the nearly 270,000 students with disabilities across Pennsylvania. The Legislature’s proposed $20 million, a 1.9 percent increase, is not enough to meet our students’ needs. “Children with disabilities cannot afford to wait and we cannot prolong the reductions in special education budgets,” said Klehr.
“Our goal is for all children to learn in adequately resourced classrooms. We hope the Legislature will commit to a long-term investment in our children. The current budget falls far short of this goal.”
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The Education Law Center-PA works to ensure that all children in Pennsylvania have access to a quality public education, including children living in poverty, children of color, children in the foster care and juvenile justice systems, children with disabilities, English language learners, and children experiencing homelessness. For more information, visit www.elc-pa.org or follow @edlawcenterpa on Twitter.
Pa. proposes new school funding formula to help low-income students
June 18, 2015 – by Emma Brown, The Washington Post – A Pennsylvania state commission has proposed a funding formula that would send more tax dollars to school districts that serve high numbers of needy children, including those who are poor or who are learning English as a second language. Continue reading
Panel: Pa needs to overhaul school funding
Commission’s Formula Proposal Makes Strides Towards Addressing Equity Gaps
Commission’s Formula Proposal Makes Strides Towards Addressing Equity Gaps
Restoring 2011 School Funding Cuts Must be the First Step Continue reading
Public Interest Leadership Changes Reflect National Trend
June 15, 2015 – by Ben Seal, The Legal Intelligencer – The Philadelphia public interest community is in the midst of a flurry of leadership changes, and as longtime pillars of the community pass on their organizations’ torches, the same appears to be happening nationwide as a generational shift occurs. Continue reading
Statement on PA Basic Funding Commission Delay
The Campaign for Fair Education Funding has issued the following statement on the announcement by the Basic Education Funding Commission that it needs more time to complete its recommendations:
It is important that the Commission produces a solution to fix Pennsylvania’s broken basic education funding system. The Commission should take the extra time if that’s what it takes to get it right.
We urge the Commission to continue its work to reach consensus on a sustainable, equitable and predictable public school funding system that addresses existing economic and racial disparities and provides sufficient funds to ensure that all children have the opportunity to succeed — no matter where they live.
We look forward to seeing the Commission’s proposal soon.
CONTACT:
Charlie Lyons, 570-242-6437, [email protected]
Deborah Gordon Klehr, Executive Director, Education Law Center; 215-238-6970; [email protected]
Op-Ed: Our public schools are in crisis – and students are paying the price
June 8, 2015 – PennLive Op-Ed by Ian Noah Gavigan and Deborah Gordon Klehr – Our state’s public schools are in crisis and students are paying the price. Continue reading
Education Law Center names Deborah Gordon Klehr Executive Director
The Board of Directors of the Education Law Center-PA is pleased to announce the appointment of Deborah Gordon Klehr as Executive Director.
With nearly a decade of legal experience at ELC, Deborah has shown a deep commitment to the Center’s mission and is well respected as an effective and strategic leader statewide on issues of public education. Deborah brings extensive expertise on education law and policy issues, including fairness in school discipline, equal access to education for at-risk students, and fair funding for public education. She has served as ELC’s Interim Executive Director since the end of 2014. Deborah has strong working relationships with the education policy and advocacy communities across Pennsylvania and nationally.
“We are thrilled that Deborah has accepted the role of Executive Director. We know that the Education Law Center will continue to thrive under her direction. Deborah will ably lead ELC in the tireless pursuit of quality public education for all children in Pennsylvania,” said ELC Board President Dr. Bruce Campbell, Jr. “I am looking forward to continuing to work with Deborah as we take ELC into the future,” said Nancy A. Hubley, Director of ELC’s Western PA office located in Pittsburgh.
Deborah joined ELC after clerking for U.S. District Court Judge Raymond J. Dearie in the Eastern District of New York. She was selected for and served on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s Juvenile Court Procedural Rules Committee and currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Campaign for Fair Education Funding. Deborah has taught education law at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, and her article Addressing the Unintended Consequences of No Child Left Behind and Zero Tolerance: Better Strategies for Safe Schools and Successful Students was published in theGeorgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy. Deborah serves on several non-profit boards. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School. Deborah previously taught kindergarten and first grade in Hoboken, N.J. She resides in Philadelphia with her husband and two children.
Since its founding in 1975, ELC’s mission is to ensure that all children in Pennsylvania have access to a quality public education. ELC pursues this mission by advocating on behalf of the most vulnerable students — children living in poverty, children of color, children in the foster care and juvenile justice systems, children with disabilities, English language learners, and children experiencing homelessness.
For more information, visit www.elc-pa.org or follow on Twitter @edlawcenterpa.
Ed Law Center Files Federal Court Complaint Asserting the Right of Homeless Student Placed in Shelter School to Attend Local Public School
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 4, 2015
ED LAW CENTER FILES FEDERAL COURT COMPLAINT ASSERTING THE RIGHT OF HOMELESS STUDENT PLACED IN SHELTER SCHOOL TO ATTEND LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOL
PENNSYLVANIA – The Education Law Center (ELC) announced today that it has filed a federal complaint on behalf of C.T., an 8th-grade honor student who was placed in a shelter on an emergency basis while awaiting foster care placement and who qualifies as homeless under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.
The complaint asserts that New Castle Area School District, where C.T. was placed in the Krause Youth Shelter, has a policy or practice of denying students placed in that shelter access to its local public schools, despite its clear duty to enroll these students under federal and state law. As a result, C.T., and other children similarly situated, are forced to languish in a shelter school program.
C.T., who has been in the shelter school since the beginning of April, has received homework assignments and tests from his prior school district but was unable to complete them without academic instruction. According to the complaint, the shelter program provides only three hours of education a day and is staffed by a teacher certified in grades K-6 only. ELC also notes that the shelter school is unlicensed and unmonitored by any state or local education agency.
“This is precisely what the McKinney-Vento Act was designed to prevent,” said Senior Staff Attorney Maura McInerney of the Education Law Center.
“That law requires districts to ensure immediate and equal access to local public schools and expressly prohibits the segregation of students based on their homelessness status. ELC is asking the court to direct the New Castle Area School District to implement its clear duty to treat these students in the same manner as children living in their district with permanent residences.”
In addition to the McKinney-Vento Act, which mandates school stability or immediate enrollment in the local public school for children experiencing homelessness, Pennsylvania state law also ensures that children living in residential settings, including shelters, are entitled to enroll in local public schools where the facilities are located.
“This is not an isolated case. Our offices in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have handled matters in other school districts where this is happening and we are working to eliminate this illegal practice across the Commonwealth so that students like C.T. do not lose ground and fall behind,” said McInerney.
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The Education Law Center-PA works to ensure that all children in Pennsylvania have access to a quality public education, including children living in poverty, children of color, children in the foster care and juvenile justice systems, children with disabilities, English language learners, and children experiencing homelessness. For more information, visit www.elc-pa.org or follow @edlawcenterpa on Twitter.
CONTACT:
Maura McInerney
Education Law Center – Philadelphia
1315 Walnut Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19107
[email protected]
215-346-6906
Nancy A. Hubley
Education Law Center – Pittsburgh
429 Fourth Ave, Suite 702
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
[email protected]
412-258-2120 ext. 350