[{"_1":2,"_100":-5,"_101":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76,88],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6353162,"mediaKeyId","2221671-3dca82020417bbf7698da5e2c2dd57d9","parentId",2221671,"title","Advocates and parents press for adequacy funding; business group urges accountability and workforce alignment","audioSeconds",320,"startMs",5000000,"endMs",5320000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2221671-3dca82020417bbf7698da5e2c2dd57d9&start=5000&end=5320","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2221671-3dca82020417bbf7698da5e2c2dd57d9/thumbnail_5000000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6353162/Pennsylvania/Advocates-and-parents-press-for-adequacy-funding-business-group-urges-accountability-and-workforce-alignment","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6353162-2f27eca99dab2aae42f4d9985462e274/orig.mp4?Expires=1773552084&Signature=AKWckwJnThxHF4FlWBD7ALXJ72rOp1yBGBGPguo3FjA~61bayXh-EH5f0e6PaNQDMQxx6riiUT6VX17PF-ZgWSuay0gOlEukqQPcgArnJtQ649uZhpWWbu4-8W-rU-5F7DrSnfZiJB4xt6EPl9yVsJ33REQiKxrK7T7~8vVTjwYPRHleuUdzokD3OiISqgSjhMu78XkXJlpzzzqIgLE-KHrnqtkwtkcs7kHK3Wt3fjUXcIm8PwsEvg-xsSUJx0AGNFK-x9e6zjoavMWvvh84rrAk~gAFPUIKEgmt18bidLvcQm5p6TodmU9Hs5R3ZOIZaGYNzvRG-UUei2SpYRR96A__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Pennsylvania House of Representatives","date","2025-02-04T05:03:43Z","article","Education advocates, parents and business representatives told the House Education Committee the Commonwealth must move faster to fill an identified school funding adequacy gap and pair new dollars with accountability and workforce alignment.

Maura McInerney of the Education Law Center told the committee the Commonwealth Court’s ruling obligates the legislature to address the remaining adequacy gap and urged a four‑year timeline to close it. “The legislature cannot treat the need of adequate and equitable funding as something that is optional,” McInerney said. She asked lawmakers to plan investments that would address what she described as a roughly $4,000,000,000 shortfall.

District and parent examples
McInerney provided district examples of how recent funding and federal relief dollars were being used: Greater Johnstown added kindergarten tutors, literacy and math coaches, after‑school tutoring, mental‑health services and CTE staff; Wilkes‑Barre expanded STEM and ESL supports and maintained full‑day kindergarten; Panther Valley added after‑school tutoring, a career counselor and foreign language. McInerney emphasized many districts used one‑time ESSER funds for staffing that would otherwise not exist.

Parent testimony from Chester Upland
Chester Upland parent Sylvia Victoria Richbough described direct effects in her family: new special education staff, expanded after‑school tutoring and guidance services. “This extra funding is greatly benefiting my children and other children that I know in the community,” she said, and detailed needs that persist including pre‑K slots and building repairs at several schools.

Business perspective: accountability and alignment
Aaron Riggleman of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry said businesses are major investors in the state’s schools and want stronger links between K‑12 outcomes and workforce needs. “This is an investment they believe in,” Riggleman said of business tax contributions that help fund schools, and he urged clearer accountability measures and stronger alignment between curriculum and local labor demands.

What lawmakers heard and what remains unresolved
- Funding pace and timeline: Advocates asked for a multi‑year plan to close the adequacy gap, with McInerney urging a four‑year schedule; committee members and witnesses noted the court did not prescribe how the legislature must raise or allocate the additional revenue.
- Local uses of funds: Witnesses provided specific examples of tutors, coaches, mental‑health staff, expanded pre‑K and facilities repairs funded with recent appropriations and ESSER dollars; witnesses warned some investments require ongoing funding to be sustained.
- Accountability: Business representatives and several legislators asked for objective assessments and consistent measures to ensure dollars change outcomes; advocates stressed multi‑year funding paired with targeted programs and facilities planning.

Ending
Advocates and parents credited recent dollars with immediate benefits for students but asked for a legislated timeline and sustained investments to close the adequacy gap and address long‑term facilities and pre‑K needs. Business groups urged that any funding plan be coupled with clear performance metrics and stronger alignment between education and workforce needs.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Education Committee -- February 3, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","Education advocates cited the Commonwealth Court finding and pressed the legislature to fill a roughly $4 billion adequacy gap; district and parent witnesses described how recent funding has been used for tutors, counselors and infrastructure while the business community called for stronger accountability and workforce alignment.","taxTitle","Education, House of Representatives, Legislative, Pennsylvania","taxId",29235,"location","Pennsylvania","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6353167,"Centennial School District ties goals to Future Ready Index, credits multi‑year investments and ESSER funds for gains",785,2875000,3660000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2221671-3dca82020417bbf7698da5e2c2dd57d9&start=2875&end=3660","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2221671-3dca82020417bbf7698da5e2c2dd57d9/thumbnail_2875000.jpg","/articles/6353167/Pennsylvania/Centennial-School-District-ties-goals-to-Future-Ready-Index-credits-multiyear-investments-and-ESSER-funds-for-gains","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6353167-b89945623ddf6638a57aa1f15f203330/orig.mp4?Expires=1773552084&Signature=jyPfFljB9OnC3L-fUfNFOl37y~5-7zo7Stu7XjgRimtz6A1f1HE0ZazpewrXJbuANkL1pSnS4TomefX1UpNue~6Bcs4ilh~zWt~OzXndDrSojboOL1C21pSSE7Rc2BJaej7WKmlJs4WHkD0evBoHadNQ0R3Jxis1B8NVRCnokUE3505yMxVN~NL4L8P4ezQ5QeILvIQxRcscKuAZ2Qqolzmo1MYBsgc4TcUk7JHEGW~CcMTBt7wkf5Elwy3yM9exjaroB-TuJ-bXR3McUY7zeVqrYf5cHMj4G4CooUrzSPW7w33~OccLDEqsKxB4xbBW8Dbr9pcpNDPxvR3S4gaFcQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Centennial School District officials told the House Education Committee that they used the PA Future Ready Index as a planning tool and backed goals with multi‑year investments in staff, coaching and curriculum.

Centennial superintendent Dana Bedden said the district tied board goals to the Future Ready Index in 2020 and then aligned staffing and professional development to those targets. “We tied our goals … to the future ready index, specifically, to make that a focus,” Bedden said. Bedden told the committee the district used an influx of federal ESSER funds to accelerate work and hired instructional coaches and specialists; he said Centennial had about $7,000,000 in ESSER funds and planned to use roughly 92 percent of that money for teaching and learning activities.

Why it matters: District leaders argued that a multi‑year, people‑centered approach — hiring coaches, investing in long‑term professional development and stabilizing instructional teams — is necessary to produce durable gains, especially after pandemic disruptions.

Strategies and examples
- Goal setting tied to the index: Leaders made public commitments that every student would meet or exceed statewide averages and growth expectations in the Future Ready Index; school boards endorsed those targets and tracked progress publicly.
- Staffing and professional learning: Assistant Superintendent Anthony Gabriel and Dr. Bedden emphasized long‑term, job‑embedded professional learning and added math and reading specialists, instructional coaches and coordinators. Gabriel said the district prioritized “growth before achievement” to monitor student progress.
- Use of federal relief dollars: Bedden said ESSER funds allowed Centennial to hire staff and strengthen curriculum and supports. Gabriel said staffing changes and multi‑year investment are now showing results after four years of sustained work: “We started this work in 2020, and we're starting to see outcomes 4 years later.”

Challenges noted
- Changing student needs: Leaders described a rising share of students with IEPs and English Learners, noting special education enrollment grew from roughly 18 percent to about 21–22 percent during Bedden’s tenure; that demographic shift affects achievement measures and program costs.
- Time horizon for results: District officials and union leaders cautioned legislators that curriculum work, structured‑literacy adoption and large professional development initiatives take multiple years to reach full effect and must be sustained.

Voices from statewide leadership
Dr. Sherry Smith, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, told the committee statewide leaders see the Future Ready Index as “excellent” while noting federal constraints on assessment design; she said districts want flexibility to measure competency and personalize learning while still meeting federal reporting requirements.

What district leaders ask from policymakers
Centennial officials asked legislators to sustain multi‑year investments that allow districts to staff instructional teams and continue job‑embedded professional learning. They also asked for flexibility in aligning local assessments and curricula with state standards so local leaders can measure growth more meaningfully.

Ending
Centennial’s leaders said the combination of targeted staffing, a clear set of public goals linked to the Future Ready Index and sustained professional development produced measurable improvements in growth and graduation. They urged continued multi‑year support rather than one‑year policy changes.","Centennial School District leaders told the House Education Committee they set district goals around the PA Future Ready Index, prioritized long‑term, job‑embedded professional development and used one‑time ESSER funds to hire coaches and specialists; leaders said growth‑focused strategies and staffing hires are producing measurable improvements.",{"_33":89,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":90,"_41":91,"_43":92,"_45":93,"_47":94,"_49":95,"_51":96,"_53":97,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":98,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":99,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6353172,"Pennsylvania Department of Education details new Future Ready PA index, highlights modest gains and attendance shortfall",475,0,475000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2221671-3dca82020417bbf7698da5e2c2dd57d9&start=0&end=475","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2221671-3dca82020417bbf7698da5e2c2dd57d9/thumbnail_0.jpg","/articles/6353172/Pennsylvania/Pennsylvania-Department-of-Education-details-new-Future-Ready-PA-index-highlights-modest-gains-and-attendance-shortfall","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6353172-06573bcc95da6d4897997a4e61430399/orig.mp4?Expires=1773552084&Signature=Hbe3bsGgJED0VQzp5TNxGVDBaUT-LoJnK6O4QBlrZS8qEhCxOnLXCK-jWdJikJ2DMz-pVvoay~BQh69oui4QKZ9b15xAQUuSBlDB98MMAZX~LYQJ~xH-NTHheQFe1dbRJz7oJttkcdQcJI0jKPuuxY45vQVFbO~nOJFg4UMzn75-TFsU61EJBesDkC08rZKR9bf4dDxQfvmb~yIupyzSiDKEFcg5H2Cb1vZvsYvs4ujgMAwHeyP8-w9PCMRVQeNBZxnOJo-aOMCHH6sId-YXCKxAEIyxgKjKv41GykCsE7blUqhwPXSv4Ti32CWRGgpGhrpAC6YNgzZHVHt24lrNwQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","The Pennsylvania Department of Education on Tuesday described the PA Future Ready Index, a web tool intended to give communities a clearer, multi‑metric view of school performance and progress toward federal goals.

Department officials told the House Education Committee the index was designed to replace a single summative score with multiple indicators — state assessment measures, on‑track measures and college‑and‑career measures — and provide context about how a school compares with the state average and long‑term goals.

The index, Department deputy secretary Carrie Rowe said, shows “the percent of students that are proficient or advanced in a given area like English Language Arts, Math and Science,” adds contextual comparisons to the state average, and reports progress toward the long‑range ESSA goals. Rowe directed committee members to futurereadypa.org to view color‑coded results and directional arrows that indicate year‑to‑year change: “If you were to go to futurereadypa.org … you would be able to then to click on that and see, where they stand relative to the state average, where they are relative to that 02/1930 goal, and how, in just a quick look at that, how they stand relative to what they did last year,” she said.

Why it matters: The department and committee members said the index aims to make performance more transparent to parents, educators and legislators by exposing subgroups and growth trends that a single averaged score can obscure. Officials said the index should help districts target interventions and track progress over multiple years.

Key features and how to read them
- Three indicator groups: state assessments, on‑track measures, and college‑and‑career readiness. Each indicator lists proficiency percentages and related contextual data.
- Color coding and arrows: blue indicates a district has met long‑term goals, green indicates interim goal attainment, red indicates goals not yet met. Upward and downward arrows show year‑to‑year change even when a goal has already been met.
- Drill‑down data: the site includes enrollment, demographic breakdowns, graduation rates, attendance and career‑technical indicators, and the ability to download multi‑year data for trend analysis.

What the data show, according to department staff
- Modest, steady gains: Dr. Brian Campbell, director in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, said “each year since the pandemic, scores have increased gradually, but we are not yet to the pre pandemic benchmark.” He said math showed the largest recent gains, science saw small gains and reading was flat to slightly down in places, and that English Learner attainment and career readiness indicators showed notable improvements.
- Graduation rates: Campbell said graduation rates have “increased continually and have actually surpassed pre pandemic levels.”
- Attendance lags: officials emphasized attendance remains the one indicator that has not recovered steadily since the pandemic; Campbell said regular attendance “is the 1 indicator that has not increased steadily since the pandemic.” Committee members and department staff connected attendance to other outcomes and discussed outreach, truancy responses and targeted supports.

Limitations and federal requirements
- ESSA timeline: several speakers noted the index’s long‑range goals align with federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) timelines and that COVID‑era testing disruptions pushed some federal goal years forward. Committee members asked about ESSA requirements and why the 2030 target shifted to 2033; department staff explained the change reflected years in which state data were not reported to the federal government.
- Not a single accountability number: both the department and superintendents said the index intentionally avoids a single “A–F” style score to prevent masking subgroup differences; instead, users are encouraged to examine multiple indicators and multi‑year trends.

What officials recommended next
Department staff recommended legislators and local leaders use the index as a starting point and then drill down using local assessments and other measures to understand growth and gaps. Rowe and Campbell said schools should combine the index with local data, including benchmark and formative measures, to guide curriculum changes and resource allocations.

For more information
The department points audiences to futurereadypa.org for district‑level data and downloadable multi‑year reports. Dr. Rowe and Dr. Campbell said staff contact information and written testimony were provided to the committee.","Department officials described the PA Future Ready Index as a more transparent, multi‑indicator view of school performance that replaces a single summative score; officials said statewide test results show modest gains since the pandemic but attendance remains below pre‑pandemic levels.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Advocates and parents press for adequacy funding; business group urges accountability and workforce alignment

Centennial School District ties goals to Future Ready Index, credits multi‑year investments and ESSER funds for gains

Pennsylvania Department of Education details new Future Ready PA index, highlights modest gains and attendance shortfall