Win in court doesn’t assure more Pennsylvania school funding
1 year, 10 months ago

Win in court doesn’t assure more Pennsylvania school funding

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania is the latest state where the public school funding system was found to be unconstitutional, but the experience in other states suggests there’s no guarantee of swift, significant or longstanding change for the poorer school districts that sued in hopes of getting billions of dollars more for their budgets. In nearly every one of those cases, however, lawmakers did not approve enough extra funding to be fully compliant with judges’ orders, said Joshua Weishart, a West Virginia University law professor who specializes in education rights. So the Pennsylvania judge’s “nudge” to legislators is only one piece in a larger puzzle that is necessary to solve such a big problem, said Bruce Baker, a University of Miami education professor who researches public school financing. In Pennsylvania — which Baker has found to be the most inequitable state for school funding, along with Illinois — the cost of addressing funding disparities will be high compared with other states because it means dealing with huge gaps involving big school districts like Philadelphia, Allentown and Reading, Baker said.

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History of this topic

Jury sides with Pennsylvania teacher in suit against district over Jan. 6 rally
4 months ago

Jury sides with Pennsylvania teacher in suit against district over Jan. 6 rally

Associated Press  

A Pennsylvania school district violated a teacher’s constitutional rights by falsely suggesting he took part in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, a federal jury has concluded. After an 11-day trial, jurors found the Allentown School District retaliated against Jason Moorehead when it suspended him after the deadly insurrection in the nation’s capital and asserted he “was involved …

Pennsylvania Senate approves GOP’s $3B tax-cutting plan, over objections of top Democrats
7 months, 2 weeks ago

Pennsylvania Senate approves GOP’s $3B tax-cutting plan, over objections of top Democrats

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Republican lawmakers on Tuesday advanced legislation for a $3 billion tax cut, their just-unveiled counterproposal to Democratic Gov. They also said it lacks any help for public schools, considering last year’s court decision that found Pennsylvania’s system of funding public schools violates the constitutional rights of students in poorer districts. People want a good quality of life, …

Pennsylvania lawmakers OK millions for universities, but feud over private and public school aid
1 year, 1 month ago

Pennsylvania lawmakers OK millions for universities, but feud over private and public school aid

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s Legislature on Wednesday approved hundreds of millions of dollars for universities after a fight that has dragged on five months into the fiscal year, although the politically divided body continued to feud over elements of school funding. Legislation to send just over $600 million to several higher education institutions passed both the House and Senate within …

Expensive judicial races might be here to stay in Pennsylvania after record high court campaign
1 year, 1 month ago

Expensive judicial races might be here to stay in Pennsylvania after record high court campaign

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The race for an open seat on Pennsylvania’s highest court initially resembled the sleepy contests that had played out for decades: low turnout, little media coverage and just enough spending to afford some biographical TV ads on cable. “I think people came out of the woodwork ready to fight back.” What happened next was a state Supreme …

Pennsylvania’s schools say victory in court is final and Legislature needs to increase funding
1 year, 5 months ago

Pennsylvania’s schools say victory in court is final and Legislature needs to increase funding

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Lawmakers should take action to address a now-final court ruling that Pennsylvania’s system of funding public schools violates the constitutional rights of students in poorer school districts, lawyers for the districts and groups that sued said Monday. The plaintiffs — including six school districts, the NAACP and the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools — want …

Pennsylvania budget still in turmoil over school vouchers and equity funding case
1 year, 5 months ago

Pennsylvania budget still in turmoil over school vouchers and equity funding case

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A court’s ruling earlier this year that the way Pennsylvania funds public schools is unconstitutional helped make education spending one of the thorniest issues in state budget negotiations. Along with a partisan divide over spending taxpayer money to help students attend private and religious schools, education funding has left the state’s 2023-24 spending plan incomplete. “Schools were …

Pennsylvania school allies criticize Shapiro’s budget plan
1 year, 9 months ago

Pennsylvania school allies criticize Shapiro’s budget plan

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Lawyers for the districts that won a landmark school funding court case in Pennsylvania say that Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget proposal falls short of the financial commitments that are needed to help the state’s poorest school districts. “The moment calls for more.” A coalition of groups called Level Up said Shapiro should have set aside money just …

Shapiro’s 1st Pennsylvania budget stresses schools, prudence
1 year, 9 months ago

Shapiro’s 1st Pennsylvania budget stresses schools, prudence

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Gov. Shapiro’s budget proposal comes as Pennsylvania keeps taking in robust tax collections, leaving it with billions in reserve, even as the administration faces demands for more money for schools, highways and social services. But, Shapiro said, he is also making “investments to build an economy that works for everyone, to create safe and healthy communities, to …

With court win, Pennsylvania schools want plan, down payment
1 year, 9 months ago

With court win, Pennsylvania schools want plan, down payment

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — When Pennsylvania Gov. “We think that this is an appropriate investment to start to address the scale of the problem we’re facing,” said Maura McInerney, legal director at Pennsylvania’s Education Law Center, which helped represent the school districts along with Public Interest Law Center and the O’Melveny & Myers law firm. A judge ruled in February that …

Poorer districts win challenge to Pa. public school funding
1 year, 10 months ago

Poorer districts win challenge to Pa. public school funding

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania judge ruled Tuesday that the state’s system of funding public schools falls woefully short and violates students’ constitutional rights, siding with poorer districts in a lawsuit launched nearly a decade ago in pursuit of billions of dollars in additional annual aid. Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer found that the state hasn’t fulfilled its constitutional …

Judge to decide if Pennsylvania sufficiently funds education
2 years, 4 months ago

Judge to decide if Pennsylvania sufficiently funds education

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A decision about whether Pennsylvania’s method of funding public education meets the state constitutional requirement that lawmakers provide “a thorough and efficient system” was left in the hands of a state judge Tuesday when argument wrapped up in the long-running case. Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer did not indicate when she will rule but said lawyers …

4-month trial in lawsuit over public school funding wraps
2 years, 9 months ago

4-month trial in lawsuit over public school funding wraps

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A marathon trial over how Pennsylvania funds public education reached an end Thursday but it will be months before a judge rules in the case brought by a group of poorer school districts against Republican state legislative leaders. The plaintiffs argue the current system denies students the “thorough and efficient system of public education” mandated by the …

School districts’ lawsuit over state funding heads to trial
3 years, 1 month ago

School districts’ lawsuit over state funding heads to trial

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A lawsuit that could result in drastic changes to how Pennsylvania funds public education goes to trial Friday in a Harrisburg courtroom, seven years after a handful of the state’s districts first went to court to challenge a system they consider unfair. Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Centre, one of the defendants, said in a statement …

Pennsylvania aims to move election fight to state high court
4 years, 4 months ago

Pennsylvania aims to move election fight to state high court

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania is asking the state’s highest court to use its extraordinary authority to take over another election-related lawsuit with critical questions that it says must be settled as soon as possible in a partisan fight between Democrats and Republicans in the presidential battleground state. In a Sunday night filing, state lawyers asked the state Supreme Court to …

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