Part of the PublicSource series
Does every student in Pennsylvania have the right to the same quality of education regardless of the wealth of their family and community?
That question is at the heart of the debate expected to take place in Commonwealth Court in the coming year as a result of a lawsuit whose plaintiffs seek to get the state Legislature to fund education more equitably.
Officials from the Education Law Center and Public Interest Law Center, who represent the districts and parents who brought the current lawsuit, estimate it would cost $3 billion to $4 billion more than what is currently appropriated for all districts to meet the academic standards set by the state and to ensure that each student is career or college ready.
While the courtroom debate is a new development, the issue of disparity is as old as the state’s public education system, which was established in 1834.
Prior to that, children of wealthy families were educated in private academies or by private tutors while children of poor families attended government-sponsored “pauper schools,” which provided a minimal education.
“The pauper schools, that was the original way [public] schooling started in Pennsylvania,” said Michael Churchill, a school lawyer affiliated with the Public Interest Law Center in Philadelphia.
The Free Public Schools Act of 1834, like the current lawsuit, was meant to equalize the quality of education available to children throughout the commonwealth. Then-Gov. George Wolf championed the act and was known to have supported public education for all children regardless of the economic status of their parents.
READ THE ENTIRE STORY AT:
https://schoolfundingpa.publicsource.org/stories/has-there-been-a-return-to-pauper-schools-in-pennsylvania-a-brief-history-of-public-education-in-the-state/
That question is at the heart of the debate expected to take place in Commonwealth Court in the coming year as a result of a lawsuit whose plaintiffs seek to get the state Legislature to fund education more equitably.
Officials from the Education Law Center and Public Interest Law Center, who represent the districts and parents who brought the current lawsuit, estimate it would cost $3 billion to $4 billion more than what is currently appropriated for all districts to meet the academic standards set by the state and to ensure that each student is career or college ready.
While the courtroom debate is a new development, the issue of disparity is as old as the state’s public education system, which was established in 1834.
Prior to that, children of wealthy families were educated in private academies or by private tutors while children of poor families attended government-sponsored “pauper schools,” which provided a minimal education.
“The pauper schools, that was the original way [public] schooling started in Pennsylvania,” said Michael Churchill, a school lawyer affiliated with the Public Interest Law Center in Philadelphia.
The Free Public Schools Act of 1834, like the current lawsuit, was meant to equalize the quality of education available to children throughout the commonwealth. Then-Gov. George Wolf championed the act and was known to have supported public education for all children regardless of the economic status of their parents.
READ THE ENTIRE STORY AT:
https://schoolfundingpa.publicsource.org/stories/has-there-been-a-return-to-pauper-schools-in-pennsylvania-a-brief-history-of-public-education-in-the-state/
About Post Author
