Advocates seek fair and adequate state funding for public schools (Inq. article)

[JPZenger]

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130930_Pa__advocates_gear_up_for_education_funding_push.html

Excerpt:

"Pennsylvania, critics say, is one of only three states in the nation without a stable and transparent funding formula for distributing $5.5 billion in basic education funds. Many states use formulas that take into account a range of factors including district size, tax rate, and percentages of students in poverty, with disabilities, and with limited English, a law center report said.

The state ranks seventh from the bottom in the nation in the percentage of K-12 funding it provides districts - 34 percent, according to an Education Law Center analysis of 2011 figures. The national average is 44 percent.

Critics also are concerned about wide disparities across the state that leave affluent systems with libraries, planetariums, and a full menu of extracurriculars and electives, while less wealthy districts have crowded classes, crumbling buildings, and few support services."

[JPZenger]

1. More on the inadequate funding of the Phila. public schools

http://truth-out.org/video/item/19006-thanks-to-governor-corbett-philly-schools-open-overcrowded-and-understaffed

http://www.citypaper.net/article.php?Philly-teachers-dig-deep-to-fill-in-gaps-as-budget-crunch-continues-16308

Excerpt:

"They’re also picking up work that used to fall to counselors; at Northeast, there’s only one counselor to serve 3,000 students.

He says staff have been pulling together — but that they can’t keep it up. And there are things they can’t do, like fill in for the laid-off librarian. For Meier, the school library, sitting dark and locked throughout the school day, has become a surreal emblem of what’s at stake.

But on the first day of school there was a hitch: “All four of our copiers were also down. No paper, none of the copiers were working, no library, no computer lab.”"