How flat funding schools is actually a cut

As districts in the region draw up their tentative plans to reopen schools in September, the feasibility of maintaining social distancing and staggered class scheduling (to limit the number of students at any one time) remains largely unknown. But even if they are deemed safe, measures to protect students and staff from COVID-19 will surely be costly, leaving districts with the highest poverty rates and students with the greatest needs way behind the curve.   

Districts like York, Morrisville, Norristown, Upper Darby, Pottstown, William Penn, Philadelphia, and Bensalem were already years into a crisis due to chronic underfunding by the state, strapped to the losing end of the widest school funding disparity in the nation.

When Pennsylvania lawmakers passed the short-term budget in May, they averted what educators, parents, and advocates feared would be sweeping pandemic-related cuts, creating a doomsday scenario for public education.

The budget flat funded schools, ensuring there would be no cuts in state funding levels this year. But flat funding schools is ultimately a cut. In fact, flat funding would have meant a cut for districts even without the pandemic.

That’s because every year the mandated costs of special education, pensions, health care, and charter schools keep ballooning. We’ve seen modest state funding increases for schools over the past several years, but those increases have been outpaced by those ballooning costs, which is why most districts are forced to raise property taxes year after year.

On top of that, districts face local revenue losses due to the COVID-19 shutdown that could total $1 billion statewide. For some districts, like York City, the loss of local revenues and overall economic downturn means they’re out of options.

York City is heavily reliant on state funds, with one of the highest poverty rates in the state. It already has the highest tax effort of any district in the state, and it was forced to raise its taxes for the first time since 2012. In May York announced it would have to make deep cuts, including the elimination of 44 positions, 32 of which are teachers. Once the state flat funding became a reality, it had to make an additional $2.5 million in cuts, done in part by eliminating its performing arts program. 

York City’s case illustrates a broader rule of state funding – when it is cut, or in this case not increased, the districts that suffer the most are those with the highest poverty rates and students with the greatest needs. These districts tend to have the most students of color as well. At York City, for example, 49% of students are Hispanic and 32% are Black.

With likely local revenue losses and new costs to keep schools safe from COVID-19, in addition to the mandated costs, districts will certainly face tremendous pressure. Virtually every district in the state has had to make some combination of tax increases, budget cuts, and draw-downs of reserves.

“Unless the federal government provides immediate relief, it won’t be a matter of whether education funding will be cut, but how deep the cuts will be,” said Congressman Bobby Scott, chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor, last week.

Without additional federal funding, rolling announcements of teacher layoffs and vital school programs may be inevitable. Much work lies ahead. Our students have never needed your support more than they do now. Join the PA Schools Work campaign and stand with us as we continue to make the case for more federal funding to protect them from the certain harm that endangers their futures.