On February 7, 2023, Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer ruled that Pennsylvania’s current school funding formula, which relies heavily on local property taxes, is unconstitutional.
Judge Jubelirer stated in her ruling that “students who reside in school districts with low property values and incomes are deprived of the same opportunities and resources as students who reside in school districts with high property values and incomes.” She further stated that, “as a result of these disparities, petitioners and students attending low-wealth districts are being deprived of equal protection of law.”
This eight-year legal battle was ruled on the side of a collection of six school districts, several parents and children, and two advocacy groups that sued for more money after they found evidence that outcomes between students in wealthier school districts, as compared to those in low-wealth districts, were directly related to the resources made available to them.
Jubelirer said it is now up to the state to craft a more equitable system for its 1.73 million schoolchildren. However, her ruling did not come with a timetable or a specific payment amount. It is also not yet known if the defendants, the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsylvania House and Senate leadership, Governor Shapiro, the Pennsylvania State Board of Education, and Acting Secretary of Education Dr. Khalid Mumin, will appeal the decision to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
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