Education Data Speaks, Time to Act

Recently, my family moved from California to Pennsylvania. It’s been a wild few months and we are starting to get settled. I’ve had the fortune to meet with many community advocates, business leaders, and local philanthropists about the state of the Lehigh Valley (the region where we live). I’ve been listening a lot as I try to understand how the area has changed since I left for college twenty years ago!

Of all the news articles, podcasts, coffee conversations, and late night calls there is one presentation that stood out the most and moved me to immediate action. The issue: education. The problem: inequitable funding.

I’m aware that inequitable educating financing is not a local issue. I’ve been part of groups, like Coastside Families Taking Action, to educate myself and others in my community on the shortfalls of state funding formulas in California, as well. So it was no shock that PA districts serving students in the most poor neighborhoods and the districts serving majority Black and Latinx kids are the same ones getting disproportionately fewer funds. Much of this is steeped in structural (read: policy) decisions made decades ago that privileged more affluent and white communities over others.

At first blush, I was ready to move on. Same story, same story. Until I came across this presentation on Racial Bias in PA State Funding from 2017 by David Mosenkis. I was digging into the issue after a great conversation with a local philanthropic leader who said the racial undercurrents to the education funding crisis is so blatant.

Here are the three charts that hit hardest:

Pennsylvania spends the FEWEST dollars per pupil in the poorest school districts of any state

Data reported by The Washington Post

This chart by Mosenkis based on data from the Washington Post shows the percentage difference in per pupil state and local funding for high and low poverty districts by state. Poor districts in PA receive 33-percentage points less than affluent districts nearly double the next most inequitable state of Vermont.

PA Districts Receiving Excess Funds Are Overwhelmingly More White Than Districts Getting Less Than Their Fair Share

This chart by Mosenkis displays Pennsylvania school districts receiving more than their fair share of funding above the dotted line and those receiving less than their fair share below the dotted line. The dots are color coded to show a higher percentage of white students (yellow dots) or a higher percentage of Black and Brown students (brown dots). More yellow dots are above the line, indicating a clear trend of underfunding districts serving Black and Brown students in Pennsylvania.

School Districts in Areas of Concentrated Poverty Receive Much Less than Their Fair Share of Funding Compared to Districts in Mixed Income or Affluent Neighborhoods

This chart by Mosenkis shows that districts serving students in the highest poverty communities (far right bar) are receiving $1,570 less per pupil than they should be receiving. Mixed income communities (12–18% poverty) get the most “excess” in terms of fair share.

In summary, school districts that need more are receiving less. Mosenkis walks step by step through a few case studies to illustrate what this means in per pupil spending shortfalls for individual districts.

Let’s apply some of the data presented for Allentown School District, the largest school district in the Lehigh Valley and third largest in Pennsylvania. Allentown enrolls about 16,000 students and has a deficit in per pupil funding of $1,570. If the average applies, a level playing field would mean Allentown School District would receive $25M+ more than it does now.

16,000 students x $1,570 deficit per pupil = $25,120,000 revenue gap

I wasn’t the only one alarmed by Mosenkis’ astute data storytelling. The Atlantic wrote a piece entitled “The Data Are Damning: How Race Influences School Funding” inspired by his early analysis in 2015.

In 2017, only 6% of Pennsylvania school districts received funding based on the revised Fair Funding Formula. In 2021, it is 11% — still significantly short of addressing any historical inequities in education funding.

So why talk about this now?

Well, because this issue is not going to go away on its own.

Last week the courts began hearing the seven-year old lawsuit in William Penn School District, et al. v. Pennsylvania Department of Education, et al. — colloquially referred to as Pennsylvania’s school funding lawsuit. I’m paying close attention to these proceedings, yet despite the outcome it will most likely make its way the PA Supreme Court before final resolution.

In June, Joseph Ciresi announced his latest legislation, House Bill 1595, to address the issue. According to a news release of the bill, “[it] would eliminate ‘hold harmless’ and fully implement both the BEF formula and the SEF formula phased in over five years.” This is the type of policy action needed to get the gears grinding so that underinvested districts can finally get the sustainable funding streams they need to best serve their students.

What also seems obvious is that an influx of funding for education in the state is needed to close the gap. I’m hoping state and local policymakers can work together to come up with some common sense solutions that raise the tide.

To get involved:

1. Get more information at Fund Our Schools PA.org
2. Send a message to your state representative to approve PA Governor Wolf’s push for Education Spending Equality (text SIGN PYCSQD to 50409) and find out more information here.