Rabb introduces legislation to fund all Pa. public schools fully, equitably

HARRISBURG, June 9 – State Rep. Chris Rabb has introduced legislation to fund all public schools throughout Pennsylvania fully and equitably to ensure that every child in the commonwealth can succeed.

“Access to a high-quality education is the single best, long-term investment we can make in our children – and for our society – with public dollars,” said Rabb, D-Phila. “That many children throughout Pennsylvania are starting out their life’s path without the resources they need because legislators in Harrisburg haven’t done the work to ensure they have every opportunity for success is unacceptable. My legislation would ensure that public education funding is fully and fairly distributed to districts throughout our commonwealth.”

Rabb has circulated a forthcoming bill he has introduced twice before that would require 100% of state funds to be distributed through the fair funding formula effective immediately, acknowledging that our most underfunded school districts need significantly more funding to ensure that they have enough resources to educate their students.

 The other bill in the package would expand the duties of the bipartisan Basic Education Funding Commission to ensure that the commission consider ways to provide for school funding that is both equitable and adequate, as well as make recommendations for ways to provide increased funding for Pennsylvania’s schools to be reflected in their upcoming 2022 study.

“Under my legislation, every school district – small and large, urban and rural, growing and shrinking – would receive the resources they need,” Rabb added. “Right now, in part because of population and demographic shifts, school districts across Pennsylvania are funded at levels that do not match their respective needs. Most of Pennsylvania’s poorest students are enrolled in school districts that are woefully underfunded. This, simply put, is wrong. It’s time to right this wrong. Neglecting this crisis only furthers the educational apartheid that persists in our commonwealth where the single most statistically significant factor for how many education dollars a school district receives from the state is whiteness.”