School funding reform possible

HARRISBURG — After their own study told them Pennsylvania schools were underfunded and aid was not fairly distributed, the General Assembly is seeking changes. A state’s “costing-out” study was done by the Denver consulting firm of Augenblick Palaich and Associates Inc. and released in late November. The goal was to find the amount needed “for 100 percent of Pennsylvania students to master the state standards in 12 academic areas and demonstrate proficiency on state reading and math tests by 2014.” Using 2005-06 data, they found an average deficit of about 25% between what is being spent and what is needed, a $4.38 billion shortfall statewide. On a per pupil basis, the adequacy level averages $11,926, compared with a 2005-06 average of $9,512 statewide. Delaware Valley Business Manager Bill Hessling does not necessarily accept all of the study’s parameters about lesser spending yielding a poorer product. He believes the district gets good results for the money spent. “It’s an interesting point,” he admitted, that in a district where tax rates have been so controversial, the district spent $8,270 per student, in 2005-06, more than 30% below the study’s recommended spending rate for Delaware Valley, $11,881. Hessling does agree that DV has been “substantially underfunded” by the state, in part because of the perceived taxable property wealth of the district. The state study also considered the equity, variations, of the current school finance system for students and for taxpayers. Districts perceived as poorer get higher amounts of state aid, “However, the effect of this aid is overwhelmed by local wealth discrepancies, since local revenues account for about twice as much as state aid,” the study found. Tax reform was the intent of the spring ballot proposal for local income tax alternatives, to supplement property taxes, along with state gambling revenues. That was rejected by voters and the district board. The study also found “state and local taxes are comparable to those nationally, but are considerably lower than the average of the six states that border (Pennsylvania).” If Pennsylvania’s state and local tax revenues matched the six-state average of revenues by income level or per capita, an additional $3 billion to $6 billion would be raised. So what’s to be done? A plan (H.R. 460) introduced by state Rep. John Siptroth that would create a commission tasked with recalculating the formula used to allocate Pennsylvania’s education funding was approved by the House Education Committee Wednesday. In a statement, Siptroth said the school districts he represents are underfunded and their burden continues to escalate as student enrollment has multiplied. “Harrisburg needs to ensure all of our children get started on the right foot,” he said. “And that means ensuring funding is adequate and equitable across the state.” If approved, the 41-member commission would report findings to the governor in one year.