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December 5, 2007

Does Your School Fall Short? Study Finds True Cost of Educations PA's Student's

On November 14, 2007, Pennsylvania released its first-ever costing-out study.  The study is entitled, "Costing Out the Resources Needed to Meet Pennsylvania's Public Education Goals."

The study presents an historic opportunity to improve education for children with disabilities, English language learners, students in poverty, and other traditionally disadvantaged students.  Learn more about the study – public forums are listed below – and ask your state legislators and the Governor to use the study results for reforming the state funding system for public schools.

The costing-out study was designed to understand what it costs for all students in Pennsylvania public schools – no matter where they live – to receive a quality education allowing them to meet state standards for academic achievement.  By understanding these costs, the state can adjust its funding system to close the gap between high-spending and low-spending school districts.  These gaps cause local tax pressures in many communities, especially on property taxes.

The major findings of the study include the following:

• An average increase of $2,545 per student per year is needed for all students to reach Pennsylvania's academic proficiency and performance expectations.
• 474 of Pennsylvania 501 school districts are currently spending below the levels recommended by the costing out study. 1.68 million students attend these under-funded schools.
• In total, Pennsylvania must increase education spending by $4.61 billion per year over current levels – a 26.8 percent increase – in order to meet established performance standards.
• Pennsylvania's current state funding system is inequitable. Districts with higher wealth and lower student needs spend more per student than lower wealth districts with higher student needs.

The study, which was conducted by a national consulting firm, Augenblick, Palaich & Associates of Denver, Colorado, was commissioned and funded by the General Assembly in June 2006.  It was supervised and released by the State Board of Education. 

Act Now: Contact your state legislators and the Governor today.Ask them to create a statewide Funding Reform Commission to use the results of the costing-out study and make real reforms to the state system for funding public schools. The Commission is currently proposed in both Senate Resolution 210 and House Resolution 460. For Legislator contact information, go to http://www.legis.state.pa.us/index.cfm. For Governor contact information, go to http://www.governor.state.pa.us/.

More Resources:

The Education Law Center has created an online resource, Funding Schools Fairly which analyzes the Costing Out Study and recommends actions to address the findings.