School fair funding case gets trial date
Jun. 24—An education funding lawsuit that includes Wilkes-Barre Area School District and a Wilkes-Barre mother among the plaintiffs has finally been given a firm trial date. Filed in 2014, the case known as William Penn School District et. al. vs. the Pennsylvania Department of Education, is set to go to trial Sept. 9.
Wilkes-Barre Area is one of six school districts that joined the lawsuit, and the only local district to do so. Tracey Hughes, who had a child in the WB Area Schools at the time the suit was filed, also joined the suit as an individual. Other plaintiffs include the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People-Pennsylvania State Conference.
Those who filed the suit are being represented by the Education Law Center and the Public Interest Law Center. The basic argument is that the state is violating its own Constitution by under-funding many public districts, and the evidence comes from the state itself. A state "costing out" study estimated how much districts need to be able to adequately meet all state education standards, and showed most districts are underfunded.
Further support for the argument districts are underfunded came when the state legislature adopted a new formula for doling out money to districts, designed to be more equitable. But the state has only used the formula for "new money" added to the education budget, meaning the overwhelming majority of state funding still gets divvied under a formula critics contend is seriously outdated.
Gov. Tom Wolf has said all money should go through the new formula, and has proposed a $1.5 billion increase in state education funding this year, though Republicans have balked at the increase.
The case will almost certainly have no immediate impact on this year's budget, which runs from July 1 through June 30. By law, Harrisburg is supposed to pass the new budget by June 30, though that deadline has frequently been ignored as the executive and legislative branches hash out a final deal.
On Tuesday Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer issued a scheduling order setting the trial to start Sept. 9 in Courtroom 3002 of the Pennsylvania Judicial Center in Harrisburg. Jubelirer will preside.
A media release from the education law center said attorneys expect the trial to last several weeks. In a pre-trial conference Monday, Jubelirer said the trial will be held five days a week, and that a live-stream will be available to the public.
In the media release, Education Law Center Legal Director Maura McInerney pointed to plans to beef up the state's surplus as one place to find more money for public education.
"Legislators are preparing to put billions of dollars into their Rainy Day Fund, but they don't seem to hear that for our clients, it has been raining for years," McInerney said. "The gaps in educational opportunity between high-wealth and low-wealth districts have only widened in recent years as legislators have continued to ignore the educational needs of children in underfunded schools."
