The governor proposed to start fixing Pennsylvania's unconstitutional school funding system with a new"adequacy formula" that measures how much money each district needs.
But better-funded districts with high property tax rates would also see benefits under the plan, which had other notable proposals — including calls to reduce how much school districts have to pay cyber charter schools, and to provide “sustainable” funding to fix aging school facilities.
Philadelphia Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. said the budget proposal, which would give the district an estimated $247 million more in funding, was “an important step toward equitably and adequately funding public education in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” “No one here, I don’t care what party you’re in, should be OK with an unconstitutional education system for our kids,” Shapiro said.The new $872 million wouldn’t just go to ensure that districts have enough money, however. In some cases, school districts already deemed to have “adequate” levels of spending that have high local tax rates would get additional money, as part of what the legislative commission described as “tax equity supplements.
In his speech, Shapiro noted the city’s facilities crisis, describing how Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler had brought her children to the Capitol one day because their school was closed due to asbestos.