It’s a move that could significantly change the course of education for students in financially struggling districts…

At present, much of school funding in Pennsylvania depends on property taxes, so districts in more affluent areas can bring in more money. As a result, students in some districts have state-of-the-art technology and a wide array of courses, but those in other districts, sometimes located side by side, are working with paper and pencil and have limited access to courses beyond the basics.
The effects of inequitable education are measurable by academic achievement. In the 2012-13 school year, more than 300,000 of the roughly 875,000 students tested in Pennsylvania were not able to meet the state academic standards on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exams, the lawsuit states.
On the 2013 Keystone Exams, 36 percent of students scored below proficiency on algebra I, 25 percent on literature and 55 percent on biology, according to the lawsuit.

Part of the PublicSource series

Failing the Future

READ MORE AT:
https://schoolfundingpa.publicsource.org/stories/is-pennsylvanias-school-funding-unfair-this-lawsuit-hopes-to-upend-the-model/