Statement from Education Law Center and Public Interest Law Center on HB 2370, comprehensive public school funding legislation
The Pennsylvania House Education Committee passed House Bill 2370 on June 4: groundbreaking, comprehensive school funding legislation that will, if passed into law, transform the lives of thousands of Pennsylvania students by establishing a long-term plan to equitably and adequately fund our public schools according to student needs.
H.B. 2370 begins to answer the call to action required by Commonwealth Court, which ruled that our school funding system is unconstitutional—finding that students in low-wealth school districts are being denied their constitutional right to a quality education.
The legislation passed by the committee today would write into law the recommendations of the Basic Education Funding Commission’s majority report, which used an analysis of current costs of school districts that are meeting state academic goals to set a funding target for every school district based on student need and offered a seven-year plan for meeting those targets.
Gov. Josh Shapiro endorsed this plan and hs put forward a first-year investment in his proposed 2024-25 budget aligned with this vision. This legislation would finish the job, putting into law the entire plan to close school funding gaps laid out by the commission.
Find out what this legislation would mean for every school district in Pennsylvania in this spreadsheet, with adequacy shortfalls calculated using the most current state data.
The legislation would boost state funding levels to 367 underfunded Pennsylvania school districts by $5.1 billion through annual increases of $728 million in state funding each year for seven years. It includes $1 billion in state support for communities facing the highest local property taxes due to state underfunding. It also ensures stability for districts with declining enrollments by guaranteeing that they will continue to receive no less than their current level of state funding. The legislation also significantly reforms cyber charter school funding.
Pennsylvania students face unconstitutional resource gaps that have built for decades, fueled by a two-tiered school funding system dependent on local wealth. This legislation recognizes that these gaps cannot be closed in just one year. The long-term commitment and annual funding targets ensure that our educators can plan, our leaders can be held accountable, and our students can see the benefits.
We urge all members of the General Assembly to pass this legislation.
Watch the House Education Committee meeting and vote here.