Appropriations Hearing Focuses on Adequacy Funding, School Choice and Performance-based Proposals

Members of the House Appropriations Committee pressed the Pennsylvania Department of Education on Feb. 24 over how the governor's budget proposes to close (or not close) the state's education adequacy gap and how parents should help students in low-performing schools.

Representative Krupa asked what action the budget takes to help students "get out of failing schools and into schools that might serve them better." Secretary Rowe said the proposed budget focuses on directing funds to schools that need them most rather than removing students from low-performing settings. She explained school performance buckets follow federal ESSA definitions (comprehensive school improvement, additional targeted support and improvement, and targeted support and improvement) and Department data identifies the lowest 5% of schools across cyber, brick-and-mortar charter schools, and school districts as CSI schools.

Rowe said PDE can produce lists and counts on request; during the hearing she stated there were 163 schools in the lowest-performing bucket (134 district schools and 29 charter schools) and offered to provide enrollment figures from the Future Ready index.

On budget specifics, lawmakers raised several items: proposed "ready-to-learn" block grants (committee members noted an apparent increase in the current proposal compared with last year's level), a $75 million physical-plant line for facility improvements, and a proposed $60 million pot for higher-education performance-based funding. Rowe and the deputy secretary for higher education said the performance-based council has held public hearings and will use feedback and data to recommend legislative approaches for administering funds.

Representative Frio and others pressed for predictable, multi-year funding; Representative Struzzi cited prior increases and argued that while state funding has risen substantially over the past decade, outcomes have not improved commensurately. "If we are seeing all these increases...that tells me something is not working within the system," Struzzi said. Rowe acknowledged that increased funding alone will not automatically close outcome gaps and said additional accountability and targeted strategy are needed.

On school-choice programs, Rowe said tax-credit scholarships (EITC) and the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) remain options for parents; she noted OSTC vouchers apply only to students eligible under the statute and that districts may choose whether to accept students using OSTC. Lawmakers observed large amounts of OSTC/EITC capacity remain unused; deputy officials said PDE and other agencies could confirm current subscription levels.

Ending: The hearing closed with requests for PDE to supply more data on school counts and enrollments, to provide technical assistance on performance and funding questions, and for the legislature to consider whether statutory changes are needed to meet the adequacy standard established by the courts.