Look back on the PA school funding trial so far with links to our daily highlights posts from each day of witness testimony during the nine weeks that petitioners presented our case.
Read morePetitioners Call Their Final Witness: Brian Costello, Superintendent of Wilkes-Barre Area School District, Jan. 26
Superintendent Brian Costello, Wilkes-Barre Area School District
Court heard Wednesday from the leader of the final petitioner school district to testify in the school funding trial: Brian Costello, superintendent of the Wilkes-Barre Area School District.
Read moreCourt Hears From a Well-Funded School District as the Former Supt. of Springfield Township Testifies, Jan. 25
School District of Springfield Township seal
On Tuesday, court heard a different perspective from Dr. Nancy Hacker, a retired educator who served as superintendent of the School District of Springfield Township from 2012 to 2020. Unlike most other districts in Pennsylvania, Springfield Township has the resources it needs to allow students to meet state standards, according to a state benchmark for adequate funding. Its current revenue, adjusted for student need, of $21,674 per student ranks 45th out of 499 school districts.
Read moreStructural Deficits: A Continuing Challenge in Philadelphia Schools (Jan. 24, Part II)
One of Monday’s witnesses in Commonwealth Court was Uri Monson, chief financial officer for the School District of Philadelphia.
“I'll take every dollar we can get, and we can certainly put it to good use,” the finance chief for Philadelphia schools told the court on Monday, “but we were behind to begin with, and it hasn't caught us up.”
Uri Monson, chief financial officer of the School District of Philadelphia for the past six years, was referring to the state’s funding formula and its failure to resolve the “structural deficits” facing Philadelphia schools…
Read more‘I never had the opportunities to learn how to do that’: A recent graduate testifies (Jan. 24, Part I)
P. Michael Horvath (left) and his mother Tracey Hughes of Wilkes-Barre are petitioners in the school funding lawsuit.
Commonwealth Court had an opportunity on Monday to hear from one of the many youth who are most directly impacted by Pennsylvania’s school funding problems. A recent high school graduate, 20-year-old P. Michael Horvath took the stand. Horvath was educated in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District, graduating in 2019, and he and his mother Tracey Hughes are Wilkes-Barre residents.
Read more'School resource equity is an essential investment:' Economist Rucker Johnson on Why Money Matters, Jan. 21
Professor Rucker Johnson
Professor Rucker Johnson, a leading researcher on the impact of changes in school funding on student achievement and life outcomes, has taken a systematic and comprehensive approach in his econometric studies. His conclusion is clear.
“School funding, school resource equity, is an essential investment to advance student achievement,” he said during his testimony on Thursday.
Read moreBig Benefits from Education Investments: Economists Testify, Jan. 20
Clive Belfield, professor of economics at Queens College, testified that Pennsylvania could reap billions of dollars in economic benefits by investing in increased educational attainment.
Economist Clive Belfield, testifying as an expert witness for the petitioners in the school funding trial on Wednesday and Thursday, said there is a large body of research demonstrating the economic and social benefits of educational attainment.
“The research shows a robust, large, significant positive relationship between education and adult outcomes – lifetime outcomes,” Belfield said.
Read moreExploring the Economic Impact of Education, January 19
The school funding trial is in its eighth week in Commonwealth Court.
The school funding trial moved into a discussion of the economic impact of education Wednesday, hearing from the first of two economists who are testifying as expert witnesses this week. Dr. Clive Belfield, a professor at Queens College, City University of New York, was called by the petitioners to testify on the fiscal and social benefits that the commonwealth of Pennsylvania can derive from education spending.
Read moreNoe Ortega, PA's Secretary of Education, Highlights Higher Education Disparities, Jan. 18
Noe Ortega, Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Education
Noe Ortega, the Pennsylvania Secretary of Education, testified that Pennsylvania has deep disparities in post-secondary attainment between low-income students and their wealthier peers, and between students of color and their white peers, in post-secondary attainment.
Read more'Schools can do a great deal to compensate for the effects of poverty': Professor Pedro Noguera, Jan. 14
There are public schools in Pennsylvania and across the country that have been able to effectively mitigate the impact of poverty on student learning, noted education scholar Pedro Noguera said during his testimony, which began Thursday and concluded Friday.
Read moreNot Enough Funds to Meet Student Needs: Superintendent Hite Testifies, Jan. 13
Hite talked about facilities issues and their impact on students. In this 2019 photo of the industrial arts lab at Randolph Career and Technical High School, puddles formed on the floor when it rained. The roof has been repaired, Hite said, but the district has a maintenance backlog with a price tag of $4.5 billion.
In a trial that has often probed the disparities between schools with different levels of resources, Philadelphia Superintendent William Hite spoke Tuesday and Thursday about the wide academic gap between two high schools that are just three miles apart:
Read moreBig City in the Spotlight: Superintendent Hite Testifies, Jan. 11
Dr. William Hite, in his 10th year as superintendent in Philadelphia, testified Tuesday in Commonwealth Court.
The first witness from Pennsylvania’s largest school district, the School District of Philadelphia, took the stand Tuesday in Harrisburg: Dr. William Hite, the district’s superintendent since 2012.
Hite testified about his experience leading the district in the aftermath of large state cuts to funding for public education
Read moreDistrict Profile: School District of Philadelphia
Witnesses from the School District of Philadelphia will take the stand this week. Learn more about Pennsylvania’s largest school district.
Read more'In my opinion, that's unacceptable:' William Penn SD superintendent testifies Jan. 10
Dr. Eric Becoats, superintendent of William Penn School District, a petitioner in the case.
Becoats said his biggest challenges have been operating a school district during a global pandemic when there are insufficient resources. It wasn’t until emergency federal aid arrived that the district was able to provide a Chromebook for each student in the district to learn remotely, and enough protective equipment and other infrastructure for in-person learning.
Read more'It's a balancing act': Former William Penn Superintendent on Navigating Scarcity, Jan. 7
Paint and plaster peeling due to moisture in the ceiling of a classroom in William Penn’s Cyprus Avenue campus.
“It's a balancing act,” recalled Jane Harbert, who served for four years as superintendent of the William Penn School District and testified before Commonwealth Court on Thursday and Friday. “We have to continuously say, all right, what do our students need? What can we afford?”
Read more'It is our responsibility as adults to make sure students have the resources:' Former William Penn SD Supt. Begins Her Testimony Jan. 6
Colwyn Elementary School, one of eight elementary schools in William Penn School District. Source: Wikipedia commons.
As proceedings in the Pennsylvania school funding trial resumed Thursday following the holiday recess, Commonwealth Court heard from Jane Harbert, the former superintendent of William Penn School District, one of the petitioners in the case.
Read more'The kids felt like they lost the opportunity that they earned:' William Penn SD witnesses take the stand, Dec. 22 part II
William Penn School District’s football field, which does not have stadium lights. The district has to rent portable lights, similar to those used in road construction, in order to host games on Friday nights.
As its final witnesses before a holiday break, the court heard its first witnesses from named petitioner William Penn School District in Delaware County on Wednesday – the district’s athletic director and a kindergarten teacher.
Read more‘Small and Rural Schools Have Unique Needs’: Testimony From a Rural Superintendent, Dec. 22, Part I
Matthew Splain, president of the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools (PARSS) and superintendent of a rural school district took the stand in Commonwealth Court Tuesday and Wednesday and enumerated significant challenges facing Pennsylvania’s small and rural districts due to inadequate funding.
PARSS is one of two statewide associations that joined with school districts and parents to file the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s funding system.
Read more‘They’re Going to Need a Little Extra’: A Lancaster Teacher Testifies, Dec. 21
Wrapping up a series of petitioner witnesses from the School District of Lancaster, Amanda Aikens, a teacher at Martin Luther King Elementary, testified Monday and Tuesday about the challenges of teaching in a school that does not have enough resources to adequately support its population of students living in poverty and English learners.
Read more‘We need space that kids deserve’: Chief of finances for School District of Lancaster testifies, Dec. 20
A basement kindergarten classroom in Wickersham Elementary School that doubles as a storage space, shown in March 2020, prior to its ongoing renovation. That renovation will cost the School District of Lancaster $900,000 per year in debt service for 20 years—an amount that could be used to hire nearly 10 teachers, Matthew Przywara testified.
The Court heard testimony Monday from Matthew Przywara, the chief of finances and operations for the School District of Lancaster. The School District of Lancaster needs safe learning environments, Przywara said, and “we also need space that kids deserve. Our kids deserve things that kids deserve in neighboring school districts.”
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