ELC School Funding Presentation: Funding, Formulas, and Fairness About The Education Law Center is the only statewide legal advocacy group whose mission is to ensure that all of Pennsylvania’s children have access to quality public schools, including poor children, children of color, children with disabilities, children in the foster care system, English Language learners, and other vulnerable children. The Education Law Center’s Objectives: ● Ensure all children in Pennsylvania have access to quality public educational services and to the full range of educational options that are available to their peers. ● Hold officials and policymakers accountable for complying with the laws protecting the educational rights of the most vulnerable children. ● Give families a voice in their children’s education, the tools to resolve problems that their children experience in school, and the information to be advocates for improvements to local and state education policy and law. ● Support community organizations and grassroots advocates in their efforts to improve public education. The Importance of Fair School Funding ● Pennsylvania is one of only three states that does not use a funding formula to calculate and distribute education dollars. Why does a formula matter? ● A good funding formula uses a cost-based approach, recognizing that different students in different communities require different levels of state investment to meet state academic standards and be prepared for college and the workforce. ● When these cost differences are ignored, or not accurately accounted for, state officials and taxpayers have little information about whether the state is spending enough money or whether the right amount of money is getting to each school district. Funding Formula Example: Base Cost x Total Student Enrollment x 1.1 for higher costs of operating a small school district x 1.1 for districts located in a region with a high local cost of living + # of ELL students x Base Cost x 2.0 + # of students with disabilities x Base Cost x 1.5 + # of students in poverty x Base Cost x 0.5 PA’s School Funding Formula ● Pennsylvania had a formula similar to that in 2008. It was enacted into law as Act 61. ● It was based on a cost study and used different student and districts factors, or weights, to distribute education funding. ● It was abandoned in 2011, and amended out of use in 2012. What now? - Talk about the pain What’s happening in your schools? What is missing? Tell local and state leaders. - Avoid the blame game Politicians want to point fingers. Don’t go down that road. Without school nurses the health and safety of our children is at risk. Without guidance counselors their future education is at risk. Real leaders address that crisis. Advocacy Timeline February 2014: Gov. Corbett delivers state budget proposal ● ● How much funding is going to public school classrooms? How is that funding distributed? March - June 2014: General Assembly negotiates budget ● What plan does the General Assembly have for allocating and distributing funds to public school classrooms? June 30, 2014: Final state budget approved ● Is there adequate funding for our public school classrooms distributed through a formula that is fair, accurate, and transparent? Contact: Brett Schaeffer Education Law Center [email protected] 215-238-6970 ext. 334