Top Pennsylvania lawmakers say they want to see school districts show improved results before guaranteeing additional rounds of adequacy dollars, set aside for historically underfunded school districts in the commonwealth.
This year's budget proposal would bring schools a third round of adequacy funding, introduced after a 2023 Commonwealth Court ruling mandated an overhaul of the state's school funding system.
New data released by the state last month show school districts used the initial round of funds, allocated for the 2024-2025 school year, to boost student academic performance, address increases in charter school tuition, expand full-day kindergarten offerings and add STEM-related programming.
School districts must adhere to a list of acceptable uses outlined by the legislature.
At a convening of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials in Pittsburgh last week, Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) said lawmakers should soon begin to assess the return on their investment.
"Are we increasing our fourth-grade reading levels, for example? Are we increasing other types of math scores and the like?" Costa said. "I do think that they play a role, but also the overall quality of the learning environment for our kids as well."
Costa said both parties want to continue allocating adequacy funds, although the speed at which lawmakers will fill the state's school funding gap is up for debate.
Targets and gaps
Lawmakers created the first, $493.8 million "adequacy supplement" in 2024 alongside a new funding formula that takes into account student poverty, special education rates and local tax effort when determining how much state funding a district should receive.
The new formula set a baseline amount districts should spend per student — $14,120 — before factoring in the additional demographic weights, resulting in a district's adequacy target. The difference between this figure and what that district currently spends determines its adequacy gap.
In Allegheny County, Baldwin-Whitehall School District has the largest adequacy gap, at $24.1 million. McKeesport Area, Sto-Rox and Woodland Hills school districts each have gaps of more than $10 million.
"[The formula] says, 'What if we gave every child the same basic level of resources that successful school districts have, where superintendents see a need for a student and they meet the need for that student?'" said Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg, senior attorney with the Public Interest Law Center. "It's really as simple as that."
In last year's budget, lawmakers set aside another $526.4 million for these underfunded schools. School districts that did not qualify for the supplement were given a minimum of $50,000 instead.
These baseline supplements were again included as part of Gov. Josh Shapiro's third, $533 million adequacy funding proposal this year (paired with a $32 million tax equity supplement).
If passed, the state's overall school funding gap would shrink to about $3.3 billion, down from $4.8 billion in 2024.
House Minority Leader Jesse Topper (R-Bedford) echoed Costa's interest in reviewing the impact of the funds allocated so far, adding that lawmakers should have "tight control" over the adequacy supplements to ensure they are bringing positive results.
"Because, if they're not, we need to be able to shift that money to where they are," he continued. "But we also don't want to be restrictive, because each individual school district is different. So it's a delicate balance."
According to Department of Education data, a quarter of all adequacy funds issued during the first installment went to programs meant to improve student academic performance.
But with many districts struggling to make ends meet, most of the funds were used to maintain existing programs rather than establish new programs or expand offerings.
At the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials' gathering last week, some district leaders said they found it difficult to spend their adequacy dollars within the parameters outlined by the legislature.
The funds cannot be used for much-needed facility improvements, such as roof repairs or building expansions. One school representative said that, while they would like to use the adequacy dollars to add more teachers, they would have nowhere to put them, given the district's already-crowded classrooms.
Costa said that as more adequacy funding is rolled out, lawmakers must be in dialogue with school districts to figure out what works best.
"In order to achieve the outcomes we want, we can't be too stringent in terms of how it can be used," Costa said. "We've got to be thoughtful in that way."
Topper signaled interest in taking another look at the funding formula "to make that money more effective" —something echoed by many of his GOP colleagues.
"There are still some schools that, quite frankly, I don't think any amount of money in the world is going to fix some of the institutional issues that they have," he said. "So we have to be looking at that as well."
But an extensive body of research shows that spending more on education can lead to small boosts in test scores and graduation rates.
And Urevick-Ackelsberg said the funding is already restricted to uses proven to improve learning, such as evidence-based reading instruction and class size reductions.
What's hindering progress in Pennsylvania, he counters, is the slow clip at which these additional adequacy dollars are being allocated.
At the current rate of funding, Urevick-Ackelsberg said it would take nine years total to address the entire $4.8 billion resource gap.
"We just need to be sort of realistic about what we're expecting to see, given that we are only two courses into a nine-course dose of medicine," Urevick-Ackelsberg said.