On Monday, March 23, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) announced that school closures have been extended through April 6th in order to help mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus. If the closures are not extended, school buildings would reopen on April 7th.and school administrators, teachers, and other staff would have two days to prepare classrooms, set up cafeterias, and arrange other business operations. Students would return to school on April 9th.
Standardized testing for students in career and technical education (CTE) programs has been cancelled for the 2019-2020 school year. These assessments include the National Occupational Competency Training Institute (NOCTI) and National Institute of Metalworking Skills (NIMS).
In a press release, Secretary of Education, Pedro Rivera stated,
“We know students are eager to engage with their teachers and return to learning. Beginning tomorrow, all schools will be able to work with their local intermediate unit to develop instructional plans for all students, including those with disabilities and English language learners.”
Pennsylvania’s cruel school funding system guarantees that students who have the fewest resources in their homes attend school districts that have the least ability to provide the resources they need to learn.
In Pennsylvania, the state provides just 38% of funding for K-12 education, one of the lowest state shares in the nation. As a result, school districts are heavily reliant on local funding to pay for their communities’ schools and Pennsylvania has the largest funding gap in the nation between high-wealth and low-wealth districts. As you can imagine, a school district that spends $25,000 per student each year has vastly different resources available than one that spends less than half of that.
What do funding inequities look like during the COVID-19 crisis?
School district leaders and staff have done yeoman’s work in keeping hungry children fed during the first week of school closures. As we move forward, administrators, teachers and staff will be continuing to develop instructional plans that will meet the needs of all of their students.
Story after story after story after story in the press has highlighted the heartbreaking and gross disparities in resources available to school districts as they face this crisis and work to provide instruction to all students.
Some school districts are able to provide each student with an electronic device and an online curriculum. Most students in these districts likely have internet access in their homes. If they don’t, the school district provides them with a hot spot so that they can access materials.
In many districts in less wealthy communities, this cannot happen.
These districts struggle to provide the most basic resources to students during normal times and cannot afford to give each student a personal computer or iPad. Families in these districts may not have a computer in their home or an internet connection that would allow students to access materials online, and in some areas of the state, high speed internet service is simply unavailable.
During this crisis we should have patience and empathy for the school leaders, teachers, and staff who are working tirelessly to figure out how ensure PA’s public school students will receive an education during extended school closures in a system where their resources are grossly inadequate.
When this crisis is over, we need to demand that state lawmakers fix their inequitable and cruel school funding system that hurts the most vulnerable students in the commonwealth.
Learn about Pennsylvania’s school funding lawsuit
On Thursday, March 26 from 1:00-2:30 pm our allies at the Public Interest Law Center (PILC) will be hosting a briefing about Pennsylvania’s school funding lawsuit. PILC and others are representing six school districts suing Pennsylvania legislative leaders to challenge this inequitable system. Sign up to learn the root causes of Pennsylvania’s school funding disparities and more.
Click HERE to register for the webinar.
Thank you for your continued support of public education. We will continue to keep you updated and let you know when you can take action to support our public schools in Pennsylvania.
Click HERE to sign up for email updates from Education Voters of PA.
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