Lawmakers Work to Correct 25-Year School Funding Disparity

In theory, Pennsylvania school districts whose communities are similar economically are supposed to receive about the same amount of money per student from the state. But, with politics muscling in on how public school aid was distributed in the last two decades, officials have long complained about gaping disparities in public school aid.

Some communities now get half as much per-student aid as those with similar economic circumstances.

On Thursday, a panel of lawmakers and top advisers to Gov. Tom Wolf is set to recommend a way to close the gap, an effort that comes as Wolf is seeking the biggest one-year boost in public school aid in the state’s history.

An Associated Press review of state data shows per-student funding differences can be great.

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Source: Associated Press, By Marc Levy, June 17, 2015.