WHEREAS, education in Pennsylvania is a constitutional right, articulated in Article III, Section 14 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which  states that “The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth”; and

WHEREAS, the current school funding system in Pennsylvania results in grossly different amounts of money spent on children in different districts in violation of the equal protection provisions of the state Constitution; with much less money spent on children in low-wealth districts, like here in Philadelphia, even though our students have additional and different educational needs; and

WHEREAS, when the Commonwealth fails to adequately fund education, it puts an unfair responsibility on local taxpayers, which cannot be met in low-wealth districts, like Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, the School District of Philadelphia is one of 428 schools districts in the Commonwealth that is not receiving an adequate share of funding from the state; and 

WHEREAS, mandated costs beyond school districts’ control, like pensions, special education and charter school tuition which school districts must pay have increased at a higher rate than the state has appropriated educational funds; and

WHEREAS, according to the PA Schools Work, since 2011, the School District of Philadelphia’s Special Education costs have increased by 71 percent and Charter School tuition has increased by 123 percent; and

WHEREAS, over the same period of time, the School District of Philadelphia’s State Special Education revenue has only increased by 15 percent and State Instructional revenue has decreased by 8 percent; and

WHEREAS, students of color are concentrated in deeply underfunded districts: 50 percent of Pennsylvania’s Black students and 40 percent of our Latinx students are in the poorest one-fifth of districts, including Philadelphia; and 

WHEREAS, the School District of Philadelphia would receive an additional $5,584 per student if the Commonwealth adequately funded education; and

WHEREAS, adequate funding would benefit ALL public school students in Philadelphia, including those enrolled in charter schools; and

WHEREAS, students in school districts that are able to spend more get better academic results: graduation rates are 20 percentage points higher in the wealthiest districts compared to the poorest and students in the wealthiest districts score much higher on standardized tests than the poorest, on average; and 

WHEREAS, as part of our Goals & Guardrails, the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia is laser-focused on the educational achievements of our students and firmly believes that adequate State funding is essential to meet our short-term and long-term goals. 

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia supports the parents of individual children, the school districts, the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools, and the Pennsylvania NAACP State Conference in their suit to enforce Pennsylvania’s constitutional guarantee of “a thorough and efficient system of public education” and urges the Pennsylvania General Assembly to provide a fair, adequate, and predictable funding system that enables all children to meet State academic standards and does not discriminate against low-wealth school districts; and

The Board of Education calls on the School District of Philadelphia community, including our students and teachers, to closely monitor this historic trial of the fair funding lawsuit; and

The Board of Education encourages the Philadelphia community to call on Governor Wolf to propose a 2022-2023 State budget that adequately funds education; and

The Board of Education encourages the Philadelphia community to call on our state elected officials in the General Assembly to pass a 2022-2023 State budget that adequately funds education; and

A copy of this resolution will be presented to the Governor, the Pennsylvania Secretary of Education and to the Philadelphia State Senate Delegation and the Philadelphia State House Delegation who represent our school district.

APPROVED AND ADOPTED by the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia at its regular meeting held this day in November, 2021.