Pennsylvania shortchanged its poorest school districts in the distribution of federal relief funding, allocating the most recent round of pandemic aid without accounting for poverty or other needs, according to a new report. Despite having a formula that directs state aid to districts with greater shares of students in poverty, among other factors, Pennsylvania didn’t do so for $175 million in CARES Act funding. Instead, it gave every district the same base amount of aid, then additional money based on enrollment — a process that resulted in the poorest districts receiving less funding than their more affluent counterparts, according to the Keystone Research Center. The report, released Monday by the left-leaning Harrisburg-based think tank, said the poorest quartile of school districts — based on enrollment — received $36 million of the $175 million, less than each of the three other quartiles. “Given the nation’s heightened awareness in the year 2020 of inequality, especially racial injustice, these are stunning findings,” the report said. Had Pennsylvania followed its formula for state education funding increases, the poorest quartile of districts would have received $90 million of the $175 million in aid, according to the analysis. Districts with the highest shares of Black and Latino students also would have received more.

Click here for full article.

Source: Inquirer by Maddie Hanna, Updated: December 7, 2020- 6:23 PM.