While rural school districts represent the majority of Pennsylvania, they’re often overlooked and underfunded. Now, it is time to ensure equitable funding for all Pennsylvania schools and invest in the communities they serve.
In February, the Commonwealth Court ruled the state’s current funding system for public schools is unconstitutional. That ruling confirmed a reality that my House colleagues and I have long fought to rectify: the commonwealth has unquestionably failed to equitably fund public schools across the state, year after year and decade after decade.
Not only must we work to right these historic wrongs, we are also left to grapple with the disparities in education laid bare by the pandemic.
For far too long, public school funding has relied far too heavily on local property taxes and taxpayers. Many of those taxpayers and communities, especially those in rural areas, already struggle financially, and putting that burden on them is not only unsustainable, but unfair and unconstitutional. It is our duty as state legislators to remedy this situation for students, educators, administrators and taxpayers.
The current system inevitably results in economically and historically disadvantaged school districts. While they struggle to keep pace, charter schools make things even worse by siphoning tens of millions in local tax dollars away from our public schools to fund often underperforming and unaccountable charter schools. Our schools are in a perpetual funding hole that keeps getting deeper. Three of the four Centre County school districts in the 82nd Legislative District – Bald Eagle Area, Bellefonte Area and Keystone Central – are underfunded, creating serious challenges for students, teachers and administrators.
Centre County is not alone, though. About 80% of school districts in the state are underfunded, including nearly every rural school district and student statewide.
While rural schools differ geographically from urban and suburban schools, they have very similar needs and challenges, as demonstrated by the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, such as the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools and William Penn School District in Delaware County. Like schools across the state, rural schools need sufficient funding to provide critical mental health services, enhance broadband access, feed hungry students, recruit and retain teachers and so much more. False narratives based on geography divide us when instead we should be united to save our public schools.
For more than 20 years, I worked in the educational technology sector, traveling across the state and working with administrators, teachers, school board members and community leaders. What I learned from that experience helped inspire me to run for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. And now as the representative for the 82nd Legislative District, I will continue to advocate for those schools, particularly in rural schools, so that we can reform our broken system of funding, improve career and technical education programs and do more to prepare students for their future.
House Democrats are committed to delivering better jobs, better schools and safer communities. That means investing in rural schools and fairly funding school districts across the state as they work to recruit and retain teachers, improve school safety and services and better serve their local communities and taxpayers.
Access to a high-quality public education remains the greatest force for socioeconomic mobility and prosperity at our disposal. We must ensure every student receives an equitable education across the state, regardless of their ZIP code.
Their future – and ours – depends on it.
State Rep. Paul Takac, D-College Township, represents Pennsylvania’s 82nd Legislative District in Centre County.
