School Funding Reform On Hold As Rural Districts Battle Uncertainty

Pennsylvania’s fiscal 2024-2025 budget contains historic investments in education based on a new formula intended to more fairly distribute funding among school districts. Rural school districts in particular have been hard hit by underfunding, relying on local tax increases and supplementary funding to deliver services.

The changes stem from a Commonwealth Court decision in February 2023 which ruled Pennsylvania’s school funding system unconstitutional and in need of reform.

Local school district administrators agree that the new formula helps fill the gap in their own budgetary obligations, but millage does vary for each individual district.

And although the new formula fixes some of the adequacy gaps in the short term, there is still no long-term legislative plan to address how the state will meet this constitutional compliance in the future.

Tweaking the numbers

According to the new state budget, local school districts will see some significant increases in funding along with reimbursements from cyber charter schools to offset the higher cost of special education for special needs students who don’t have the same private school choice options that other students have.

For the Northern Bedford County School District it means an estimated additional $435,978 on paper, a figure that includes an increase of $28,258 or 4% in Special Education Funding, an increase of $87,465 in Basic Education Funding, and a cyber charter reimbursement of $25,591.

Overall increases for other local districts amount to $573,572 for the Claysburg-Kimmel School District, $907,031 for the Spring Cove School District, and $494,145 for the Williamsburg Community School District.

“Our cyber charter reimbursement of $78,000 isn’t going to have much of an impact, we were hoping it would be more like $400,000 based on the [per-student tuition] cap,” said SCSD Superintendent Betsy Baker.

The state’s Ready to Learn Block Grant, intended to fund full-time kindergarten and preschool programs, currently funds only 3.5 kindergarten teacher positions within SCSD.

Adequacy funding of $461,114 will fully fund the district’s 2024-25 program, “but it doesn’t allow us to add services and will only be able to maintain what we already have,” Baker said. “We have a $1.5 million budget deficit. Without that increase we would have to start cutting things and that’s not where we want to go.”

In terms of BEF, “they actually gave us less than what we received the last three years, and we’re going to have about $26,000 less toward school safety and mental health grants,” Baker said. “It’s like a shell game, less money here, more money there. We can’t add services, but hopefully it reduces our deficit a little so we end up with a balanced budget.”

Meager improvement

CKSD and NBCSD, on the other hand, expect to see a slight benefit from the new formula.

“We prepared for the worst-case scenario, but with the additional funds the district is now at a surplus of $163,011,” said CKSD Superintendent Brian Helsel.

NBCSD’s $178,852 in Ready to Learn funding will now enable that district to fully fund all of its K-5 programming in addition to a library, said Superintendent Todd Beatty.

“There is no increase in our BEF funding, though, and in fact, that funding may have decreased slightly,” he acknowledged. “At least it allows us to maintain the programs we currently have and frees up local money for other unforeseen costs.”

Williamsburg Community School District administrators did not respond to questions regarding how that district fared in light of the new state budget.

Balancing act

Education funding shortfalls are often bridged, in part, through local tax increases, grant funding, and charitable donations.

Since its incorporation in 1997, the Northern Bedford School Foundation has provided funding for audio and video equipment used by schools and student clubs, educational field trips, student leadership training events, athletic field upgrades, and enrichment programs, among other expenses.

“We receive 68% of our funding from the state,” Beatty said. “That means 32% of our staff, programs and other expenses are supported by the local budget.”

SCSD conducts fundraisers that include an annual golf outing, a meat raffle, and even payroll deduction donations from faculty.

“The Dragon Pride Foundation steps in when we can’t get funding through other sources,” Baker said.

Roger Knisely, a member of both the Claysburg Education Foundation and the Claysburg Kimmel School Board, said Claysburg’s school board raised taxes for the past two years to keep up with expenses.

“The Claysburg Education Foundation has helped students with the cost of dual enrollment, and also helps teachers with classroom item costs,” Knisely said. “We are limited with our funds, and could not do what we do without generous help from groups like NPC and the other businesses that provide donations.”

Since its inception in July 2014 through December 31, 2023, Claysburg’s Education Foundation contributions have amounted to nearly $1.5 million.

“Last year we were able to afford renovations and updates to provide Learner Support Services and Multiple Disabilities Support classroom space for students with special needs,” Helsel said. “These improvements came at zero cost to the district because the Education Foundation funded the $80,000 upgrade.”

No predictability

Following the Commonwealth Court ruling, a study of school funding by Pennsylvania’s bipartisan Basic Education Funding Commission found that the state’s public schools are underfunded by $5.4 billion.

The recommendations in the Commission’s Majority Report laid out a plan that could close the gap in underfunded school districts.

House Bill 2370, a funding reform bill passed by Pennsylvania’s House of Delegates on June 10, is based on the Commission’s report and would provide $5.1 billion in additional state funding over a period of seven years.

It does not, however, include additional funding for pre-K programming and also does not address the upgrade of school facilities that is long overdue in many districts.