Lawmakers want to invest more than $5 billion in additional state education funding into local school districts to address persistent equity gaps, according to a 114-page report adopted Thursday by the state’s Basic Education Funding Commission.
The 15-member commission voted 8-7 to adopt the plan, introduced by Rep. Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster. The proposal sets a seven-year timeline for distributing $5.4 billion in education funding, the responsibility for which would be split between local taxpayers and the state.
“Regardless of a state and local share, a $5.4 billion gap is a large figure,” the commission wrote. “It is nearly 18% of school districts’ 2021/22 current expenditures. However, it is large because it is a comprehensive solution to a large problem.”
Lawmakers began rewriting the state’s school funding model in the wake of a Commonwealth Court ruling last February that deemed the current system inequitable.
“The state and local share of adequacy gaps acknowledges this reality by putting most of the onus on the state instead of overburdening local communities,” the report continues. “Notably, the local share is not intended as a mandate for local school districts to raise taxes, but rather an equity component in the system of public education funding that local school districts can choose to meet.”
The adopted plan proposes that taxpayers come up with $291 million in funding, while the remaining $5.1 billion rests upon the state. It also suggests that the state invest an additional $955 million “tax equity supplement” to support school districts where residents do not have the capacity to make up gaps through tax increases.
The adopted report is the culmination of 14 public hearings the commission held across the state, in addition to receiving more than 1,100 comments online.
Whether the commission’s recommendations will make it into Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget address next month, however, is unclear. Just how much of the plan is realized will be left up to state budget negotiations in the upcoming months.
The vote was supported primarily along party lines, with the majority of Democrats, as well as Shapiro’s appointees, voting for Sturla’s plan while Republicans voted in favor of a plan introduced by Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill.
The outlier was Democratic state Sen. Lindsey Williams, who voted no on both plans, stating an aggressive timeline for fixing the state’s school funding gaps was needed.
“This is our opportunity to get this right,” Williams said. “If we’re not voting on a bipartisan report today, I see little reason to compromise at this point.”
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