A line is drawn in the sand. urban and rural, small and large, conservative and liberal. These lines will be erased and redrawn several times over the coming months.
Uncertainty abounds as the nation's largest and most expensive full-time state legislature descends on Harrisburg for serious budget deliberations.
Gov. Josh Shapiro touts unprecedented spending levels in his annual winter budget address, while conservative lawmakers argue for fiscal restraint during a period of fiscal turmoil.
Education funding will once again be at the forefront of the debate as Congress debates how to divide the roughly $48 billion pie.
With an unusually large number of members vying for seats in the November general election, members may be feeling a growing sense of crisis.
The motive of achieving a political and financial victory and returning home to begin campaigning in earnest could speed up negotiations.
The governor's strong stance on reallocating public funds to private school tuition vouchers has brought public-private and extended school choice back into the spotlight in budget battles, making it one of the moving lines in the sand. ing. Governors took nominal political risks by defending vouchers, which were usually opposed by teachers unions.
The bigger risk is long-term, as his successful run for governor was opposed by far-right conservative Doug Mastriano, and his extreme positions were a no-go for unions. Simply put, the political climate was perfect for Shapiro to step into the voucher debate.
His independent views resonated with voters, and Mastriano was not elected.
Mr. Shapiro is also entering the other end of the choice fight this year with a proposal to limit payments to private but publicly funded charter schools.
The state's 500 public school districts also are concerned about the extent to which the Legislature and Mr. Shapiro move toward compliance with a 2023 ruling by federal judge Lenny Cohn Jubeliller ordering the state to fix its broken funding system. will be carefully monitored to see if they do so.
In her 768-page decision, she said the General Assembly deprived students in school districts with lower property values of the same resources and opportunities as students in wealthier school districts.
“The opportunities for reform are virtually limitless,” she wrote in her ruling. While past legislatures and governors have touted the fairness of their reapportionment proposals, most have been exposed as political hyperbole rather than genuine common sense fiscal reform.
Jubeliller's ruling leaves the resolution up to the governor, the Legislature, and the districts that filed the lawsuit, including the Wilkes-Barre area, Shenandoah Valley, Lancaster City, Greater Johnstown, Panther Valley, and William Penn.
There appears to be no limit to the timeline for compliance with the judge's order, and with the governor's $1.3 billion increase to the basic education funding line item in the state budget, the governor and Legislature could take an incremental approach to a solution. There is evidence that there is. While it significantly favors poorer neighborhoods, it falls far short of achieving equity as defined by the court's ruling.
Pennsylvania's public school assets are measured by aid rates. The aid rate is a complex formula based on a combination of the income of residents in the district and the total sales value of all properties.
The higher the first digit after the decimal point, the poorer the district. Mount Carmel and Shamokin's aid ratios are 0.8185 and 0.8055, meaning it is one of the poorest districts in Pennsylvania. Shikellamy and Milton are not far behind.
These four districts will be the biggest beneficiaries of the Jubelirail decision.
Lewisburg and Danville are in the least profitable position with nearly identical ratios of .4032 and .4080, respectively. Aid rates for all school districts across the state can be found on the Pennsylvania Department of Education's website.
Politicians will toe the party line while lobbying for money in their districts, and governors will sign the final product if campaign promises are fulfilled. Despite the obligation to complete the national budget by July 1, discussions often continue into July, and sometimes longer.
Funding changes are now mandatory and reform is imminent. It may be time for financially challenged school districts to take precedence over wealthier ones, and for students' needs to drive the discussion.
Poor school districts are struggling to fill nursing, teaching and reading professions, with teacher shortages hitting them the hardest. This outdated national system, which relies heavily on property taxes as a mechanism to fund schools, needs an overhaul.
That day appears to have arrived, thanks to a federal judge. If the final budget is adopted in tandem with the governor's vision and judge's proclamation, Pennsylvania should give poorer school districts more benefits and provide more school choice.
Wayne Brookhart is a former superintendent and current board member of the Danville Area School District.
