Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
Pennsylvania’s public schools are set to receive $665 million in new money under a state budget deal passed by Harrisburg lawmakers Wednesday after a monthslong delay. Most of that funding — more than $500 billion — will come through adequacy and tax equity formulas designed to close a $4 billion “adequacy gap” identified in a landmark 2023 court decision that said Pennsylvania’s public school-funding system was unconstitutional, illegally underfunding children in low-wealth districts. » READ MORE: Pa. has a $50.1 billion state budget The deal also includes reforms for cyber charter schools — including cuts in payments and more oversight — that will represent a savings of hundreds of millions to districts across the state. (Virtual school advocates called the changes “disastrous” and said they would lead to the closure of some schools.) Though the process of getting to a deal was bruising, and costly, for school districts, “with this budget, lawmakers affirmed that the commonwealth remains on the path toward a fully and fairly funded public education system,” Deborah Gordon Klehr, executive director of the Education Law Center-PA, said in a statement. Last year’s state budget came on the heels of the lawsuit; in a sense, this year’s deal was more important because it establishes that “the era of one-off, ad hoc education budgets is over,” said Dan Urevick-Acklesberg, senior attorney at the Public Interest Law Center. “This budget shows bipartisan consensus that the march to constitutional school funding is not optional. It took too long, but we moved one year closer to a system that will transform lives.” State Sen. Vincent Hughes (D., Philadelphia), Democratic chair of the Appropriations Committee, said the budget means the state “will also continue to deliver on our Commonwealth Court ordered obligation to adequately and constitutionally fund our public schools.” Relief, but at a cost Educators who were forced to make ends meet amid months of zero state subsidies as the budget deadlock dragged on for more than four months breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday, and said the spending plan was, overall, a victory for schools and children — but that it came at a cost. Many school boards had to borrow money to make ends meet without state aid — Philadelphia, the state’s largest school system, which relies on state aid for more than half of its budget, authorized borrowing up to $1.5 billion in September just to keep the lights on without state payments. And two local school districts — William Penn, in Delaware County, and Morrisville, in Bucks County — raised the specter of possibly having to close in the new year if the deadlock continued into January. “This impasse showed us just how fragile our planning can be without timely state support,” Eric Becoats, William Penn’s superintendent, said in a statement. “We cannot operate in uncertainty. Our educators, students, and families need stability to thrive.” Monique Boykins, the William Penn school board president, said the budget was a “welcome relief,” but “it is unfair to put this burden on districts.” William Penn was the lead plaintiff in the education funding lawsuit; it also relies on the state for the bulk of its budget. Long-term impact In Morrisville, Superintendent Andrew Doster went so far as to set a date — Jan. 30 — when the district’s three schools would have to shut if there had not been a deal before winter break. Taking that off the table brought “a huge sense of relief,” said Doster, who said he believes the timing of the deal means state payments will begin to flow to districts in January. To get by, Doster had to juggle — holding off on payments to charter schools, “slowing payments to vendors, I’ve been holding off until we receive multiple notices. I’ve basically been watching everything from classroom supplies to copy paper to what we’re purchasing for salt for the winter. Anything and everything that I could not pay right now without interfering with the classroom and the learning of students, that’s what I’ve done.” He wasn’t able to fill some classroom vacancies because of the budget standoff, Doster said, and had to use long-term substitutes in place of hiring employees, who would require not just salaries, but also benefits. Having state aid on the horizon helps, but Doster said he’s still only planning on hiring for positions that are absolutely necessary. The long impasse “will affect how we operate moving forward,” said Doster. “I have to have this in the back of my mind as we work on next year’s budget. We cannot be at the mercy of the state and jeopardize our ability to keep students in classrooms.” That could mean larger class sizes, fewer support staff, reduced programming. “There’s a net outcome to all this,” the superintendent said.
