Report: Gap Widens Between Rich, Poor Pa. Schools

Shutterstock.com

AP reports that the funding gap between the state’s richest and poorest schools is widening — and in fact has doubled during the Corbett Administration.

This school year, districts in the top half of average resident income are budgeted to spend nearly $1,800 more per student than the poorest half of districts. That’s a 140 percent increase in the size of the gap, or about $1,060 more per student, since the 2010-11 school year, according to the AP’s analysis.

Districts in the top 20 percent of average resident income are budgeted to spend slightly more than $4,000 more per student this year than the poorest 20 percent of districts. That’s a 130 percent increase, or about $2,300 more per student, in the past four years.

Incoming Gov. Tom Wolf has proposed imposing a tax on gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale and using the funds to increase ed funding; the Pennsylvania Legislature is waiting to hear the report of a Basic Education Funding Commission it put to work earlier this year. Its report is due in 2015.