While most state funding for Pennsylvania’s public schools was made available upon Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget signing last week, some districts with the greatest need have been left to wait for their share of supplemental funding to emerge from ongoing negotiations in Harrisburg.
The 2023-2024 state budget included $100 million in Level Up funding for the Commonwealth’s 100 poorest school districts. Educators say the additional funds are required to address facility needs, pay salaries and provide a quality education for students.
For the Sto-Rox School District west of Pittsburgh, the funding expected from Level Up will determine whether administrators can make roof repairs. The district is currently undergoing a five-year state-mandated financial recovery plan to address a multi-million dollar budget deficit.
“Our roofs on two of our buildings, when it rains, we have water inside,” said Superintendent Megan Van Fossan. “So it is imperative that we get additional funds to support the operation of the district.”
Sto-Rox is slated to receive $15.8 million in basic education funding from the state — a 15.5% increase from last year. But Van Fossan said that for districts like hers, basic education funding isn’t the end of the story.
“I don't have local businesses where I can levy the taxes,” she said. “That's where the Level Up funding is crucial to keeping our buildings and our programming going for kids.”
Among the other school districts receiving Level Up funding in Allegheny County are Clairton City, Duquesne City, East Allegheny, McKeesport, South Allegheny, Steel Valley, West Mifflin, Wilkinsburg Borough and Woodland Hills.
Even though only the bottom 20% of Pennsylvania’s school districts receive Level Up funding, they serve 58% of Pennsylvania’s students living in poverty. The 100 districts also educate 65% of all Black students in the state, as well as 58% of all Latinx students.
That additional money these schools depend on, however, remains tied up in partisan negotiations that have stalled the distribution of both Level Up funds and about $300 million for other programs.
The breakdown is, in part, due to the governor’s decision to veto $100 million for the controversial Lifeline Scholarship Program. The voucher program helps students in underperforming public schools transfer to private or religious schools.
Shapiro said while he supports a voucher program, he was unwilling to hold up the entire budget to wait for legislators to enact enabling code bills, which are typically passed alongside the main budget.
Code bills are necessary to specify how certain funds are spent.
Pennsylvania’s budget secretary stated last week that until the governor signs additional legislation, no money would be spent on Level Up and a number of other programs.
“There's about $400 million total of areas where we need some additional language,” Shapiro added during a visit Tuesday to Penn Hills. “I know the House and Senate are going to work to rectify their differences, send that to my desk, I'll sign it, and then we'll be able to drive out the Level Up funding.”
Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa said he will negotiate with Republicans to get the funding out as soon as possible — even if he and other Democrats maintain they have enough authorization as it is to drive out the funds now.
In terms of the voucher program, however, Costa said he is not willing to compromise for fear that funding the program this year would leave Democrats stuck funneling millions of dollars into the program over the course of the next several years.
“I think that no matter where the money comes from, it's removing money from our public school students,” he added. “We still need more than what we've already gotten.”
The adopted budget increases basic education funding by $567 million — the largest increase of that kind in Pennsylvania history. But even when the additional $100 million for Level Up becomes available, the money is still a long way from what is needed to close the gap established by an unconstitutional funding scheme.
The number needed to create a more equitable and adequate system, as required by February’s Commonwealth Court ruling, is likely in the billions, according to State Senator Lindsey Williams.
“I want those bottom schools to get that additional dollars to make sure that our kids have what they need, but it's a drop in the bucket to what we actually need,” said Williams, a member of the state’s Basic Education Funding Commission.
For now, Van Fossan with the Sto-Rox school district said her students — 92% of whom live in poverty — need legislators to work collaboratively together.
Unless the Senate is called back to Harrisburg early, negotiations might not resume until Sept. 18, already weeks into the school year.
“The infighting and the partisan politics just has no place in education,” Van Fossan said. “We all need to be focused on kids and helping them thrive.”
