April Newsflash
Equity in state school funding lags in Harrisburg
Despite Governor Ed Rendell’s urging to enact property tax relief legislation, Pennsylvania state senators have yet to vote on legislation currently before them that would increase state funding to school districts by funneling slot machine revenue to local school districts. Such a measure has already passed in the House.
While the debate about legalizing slot machines continues around the state, some education advocacy groups are also up in arms about a lesser-known provision of another bill that could have an effect on school district funding.
The bill, House Bill 113, includes a provision that would prohibit local school boards from raising property taxes without first seeking direct voter approval in a referendum.
The threat of required voter referenda for local property tax increases comes amidst debate over Governor Rendell’s proposal for the 2004-05 state budget.
The education portion of the Rendell plan calls for a modest 2.5 percent increase in the basic and special education subsidy payments to local school districts. It also calls for increasing the new state accountability block grant program from $175 million to $250 million.
The block grant program, a Rendell initiative established during Pennsylvania’s 2003-04 budget negotiations, aims to raise student achievement in academically struggling districts through funding of state-approved “proven education practices” such as full-day kindergarten, smaller class size, and tutoring.
But the education budget proposal includes no plans for the creation of a more equitable school funding formula in the state, points out Janis Risch, spokeswoman for the education advocacy group Good Schools Pennsylvania.
Good Schools members urged the General Assembly to approve the $75 million increase in state accountability grants and to move to establish a new school funding formula for the state during a March 24 rally at the state Capitol building.
The Rendell budget “ignores the impact of inadequate state funding,” said Risch, who emphasized that the Governor’s proposal does very little to close the already wide gap that currently exists between wealthy and poor schools districts across the state. Pennsylvania’s school funding system consistently ranks among the most inequitable in the nation.
Risch adds that the referendum portion of HB 113 could widen this gap rather than close it if school boards cannot raise local property taxes, a measure that is often their only way of increasing revenue for schools.
The two largest appropriations in the education portion of the state budget, the basic education and special education subsidies, “are distributed without any consideration of the number of students that are currently being served and the level of needs of districts,” says Timothy Allwein, of the nonprofit Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA).
Allwein says this helps explain why the governor’s budget proposal falls short.
Pennsylvania law requires that state legislators approve a state budget for next year by June 30.
For more information contact: Good Schools Pennsylvania, 215-332-2700, www.goodschoolspa.org; Pennsylvania School Boards Association 717-774-2331, www.psba.org.