Pennsylvania’s school funding system is broken, and students in classrooms across the state are paying the consequences. Recent cuts in state funding, combined with the fact that the state does not have a predictable, sustainable and fair basic education funding system to distribute dollars where they are needed, have put our students at a disadvantage. There should be no question that money matters. Data shows that student performance in our state has tracked with state funding levels. A study comparing changes in state test scores with changes in state funding between 2003 and 2011 found that performance in the 50 lowest-achieving districts increased by 50 percent, on average, as basic education funding to those districts increased by about 40 percent. By contrast, as state school funding levels fell between 2011 and 2014, leading many schools to cut programs, lay off teachers and increase class sizes, student performance lagged among all students, but particularly for those facing additional challenges.

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Source: Erie Times-News, By Frederick C. Johnson Contributing writer, May 28, 2015.