Don’t Throw Students Under the Bus: PA Legislators Must Follow Through on Adequacy Funding to Keep Their Constitutional Promise to Fully Fund Public Schools
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kelly Pearce, kpearce@teachplus.org, (928) 925-9236
Harrisburg, PA, August 29, 2025—Teach Plus Pennsylvania today issued the following statement:
934 days ago, the Commonwealth Court ruled that Pennsylvania’s school funding system is unconstitutional, a ruling that the Pennsylvania General Assembly did not appeal.
414 days ago, in response to the ruling and after a months-long commission examined possible solutions, lawmakers passed bipartisan legislation as part of last year’s state budget that calculated that the state owes $4.5 billion to underfunded public schools. The legislature also allocated approximately $500 million, 11% of the total, as a first installment toward closing that gap. Leaders of both the Pennsylvania House and Senate pointed to this new adequacy funding as a critical step toward meeting the state’s constitutional obligation to fully fund public schools.
Today, the Pennsylvania state budget is 60 days overdue, and the Pennsylvania Senate has proposed flat funding education, with no second installment of adequacy funding, no increases in other education funding to all districts to keep pace with inflation, and no reforms to cyber charter funding to eliminate wasteful spending.
“Pennsylvania public school students are returning to school with state funding delayed and no commitment that the second installment of adequacy funding proposed by Governor Shapiro will reach their classrooms,” said Laura Boyce, Executive Director of Teach Plus Pennsylvania. “Instead of starting the school year with stability and the assurance that they can count on the state to continue to provide the resources it owes, public schools face the prospect of taking out loans, raising property taxes, laying off staff, or cutting services and instructional offerings. Our students in rural, suburban, and urban schools across Pennsylvania are waiting on legislative leaders to follow through on their constitutional obligation and pass a budget that gives their schools the resources they deserve.”
“If a student quit on an assignment after doing 11% of it, I’d give them an F,” said Taylor Hough, a Teach Plus PA Policy Fellow and teacher in Solanco School District in Lancaster County. “My students and I are counting on our legislators to finish what they started and fund our public schools.”
Teach Plus PA joins with other members of the PA Schools Work coalition in calling for the General Assembly to urgently pass a state budget that includes:
- At least $500 million in adequacy funding
- Increases in basic and special education funding for all school districts
- Proposed reforms to cyber charter funding to deliver at least $300 million in savings to all school districts
Last spring, Teach Plus Pennsylvania Policy Fellows wrote a report—From Dollars to Difference: How Pennsylvania School Districts Are Putting State Adequacy Investments to Good Use—that spotlighted seven urban, suburban, and rural districts of varying sizes and geographies across the commonwealth. It highlighted how school districts have invested new state dollars in innovative ways to meet the specific needs of their local communities.
Pennsylvania’s students cannot be thrown under the bus or used as pawns in political games. It’s past time for the General Assembly to do its job and fulfil its constitutional duty.
About Teach Plus
Teach Plus is dedicated to the mission of empowering excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that advance equity, opportunity, and student success. Since 2009, Teach Plus has developed thousands of teacher leaders across the country to exercise their leadership in shaping education policy and improving teaching and learning for students. Learn more about Teach Plus Pennsylvania at https://teachplus.org/pa/.
