February News: Standing for Philadelphia voters, a game-changing state budget proposal, and more

A game-changing budget proposal for Pennsylvania public schools

Above: Educators, parents, students and advocates gather in the capitol rotunda to mark the one-year anniversary of Commonwealth Court's decision in our school funding lawsuit.

Today, more than a year after Commonwealth Court's historic decision in our school funding lawsuit, there's a serious plan on the table for public school funding based on what students need, not what local communities can afford. Now, it's up to all of us to make this plan a reality.

On February 6, Governor Josh Shapiro made a historic commitment to public schools in his state budget address. He endorsed the work of the Basic Education Funding Commission, which released a plan to close school funding gaps in Pennsylvania by providing an additional $5.1 billion in state funding annually within seven years, targeted to students in low-wealth districts that have been deeply shortchanged, along with an additional $970 million for districts where local taxpayers have picked up the slack for insufficient state funding.

For the 2024-25 school year, Governor Shapiro's budget proposal would make a down payment on bringing the system into compliance, targeting $872 million to underfunded school districts where students have been denied sufficient resources. With a proposed additional $200 million for all school districts and a proposed $300 million investment in school facilities, Governor Shapiro's proposal puts the plan for a constitutional school funding system in motion.

Our clients in the school funding lawsuit, and educators across the commonwealth, recognized the life-changing impact this plan could have for their students.

“Thank you, Governor Shapiro, for putting forward a budget plan that will help public schools meet the needs of all their students,” said our client Dr. Amy Arcurio, superintendent of Greater Johnstown School District. “The sustained, predictable funding that the long-term plan begun by this budget provides would be transformative. Our limited local wealth would no longer lead to a triage for essential educational resources. Instead, we could provide the tools in Greater Johnstown to give our learners a meaningful opportunity to become what we know they can be—the people who build the future of Pennsylvania.”

On February 7, we marked the one-year anniversary of Commonwealth Court's decision finding Pennsylvania's public school funding system unconstitutional, joining our co-counsel from Education Law Center - PA and more than 100 Pennsylvania educators, students and parents in the Capitol Rotunda.

In closing remarks, our senior attorney Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg made the next step clear: we need the General Assembly to pass to pass the Governor’s budget proposal, and back it up with a multi-year commitment to see the plan for constitutional school funding through.

"If we want the decision to be real, and to be real before a Kindergartner reaches adolescence, we all must be engaged, every single one of you," Urevick-Ackelsberg said. "So here is my challenge to you. This week: call your elected officials. Start with the Governor himself. Call his office. Thank him for the bold step he took.

And then demand from the Governor and General Assembly the enactment of a complete, multi-year plan to provide children what they need."

Here are a few highlights of statewide press coverage:

School officials view state funding plan as 'game changer' and 'transformative' - Pottsville Republican Herald, 2/24/24
Lawmakers weigh solutions to fix 'crumbling' Pa. Schools - Fox 43, 2/18/24
Pottstown School Board working to get fair funding over the finish line – Pottstown Mercury, 2/17/24
Advocates mark 1st anniversary of court ruling, commend governor’s education budget – Citizens’ Voice, 2/7/24
Lancaster County leaders respond to Gov. Shapiro’s proposed $1.1 billion increase to education funding – Lancaster Online, 2/7/24
Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro proposes $48 billion budget with focus on education, economy, and people – Pennsylvania Capital-Star, 2/6/24
Pa.’s school funding was supposed to be revamped. Will Gov. Shapiro’s budget get the job done? – Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/6/24
Shapiro budget expected to address court ruling on school funding – The Citizens’ Voice, 2/4/24

We're representing community organizations standing up for Philadelphia voters' rights, opposing an unaccountable appointed SEPTA prosecutor

Left: A Philadelphia "I Voted!" sticker, via Wikipedia user NMGiovannucci.

Last year, the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a radical law, Act 40, stripping prosecutorial authority over crimes within SEPTA from elected District Attorney Larry Krasner and installing a state-appointed prosecutor in Philadelphia County. This law side-steps core principles of democracy by effectively replacing, without any accountability to Philadelphia voters, District Attorney Krasner, who was reelected to a second term by a wide margin in 2021--setting a dangerous precedent that Harrisburg politicians can overturn local elections to score political points.

On March 1, we filed an amicus brief challenging Act 40, representing community organizations standing up for Philadelphia voters—Power Interfaith, Abolitionist Law Center, Common Cause Pennsylvania, NAACP – Pa State Conference, NAACP Philadelphia Branch, League of Women Voters Of Philadelphia, Make The Road Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania Policy Center. We were joined by co-counsel from the ACLU – PA and Arnold & Porter. Read the brief here.

Our clients argue that Act 40 is unconstitutional under the Pennsylvania state constitution’s equal protection guarantee by treating Philadelphia voters differently than voters anywhere else in the Commonwealth.

The prosecutor installed in Philadelphia under Act 40 would never have to face the voters of the community they are appointed to oversee, unlike any other prosecutor in Pennsylvania. The law also shields this prosecutor from any legal challenge to their authority or jurisdiction by a person who is charged with a crime.

“This law replaces a Philadelphia prosecutor who is accountable to the city’s voters with a political appointee who is effectively accountable to no one,” said Senior Attorney Claudia De Palma.

Welcome Brent Landau to the Law Center as our new executive director!

Right: Brent Landau

All of us at the Law Center are excited to welcome Brent Landau, who began serving as our executive director on February 26! Brent joins us after serving as global managing partner for Hausfeld, where he managed a firm of over 170 attorneys and litigated class actions on behalf of victims of human rights violations, anticompetitive conduct, and other wrongs. Read more about his experience and commitment to public service in coverage from Legal Intelligencer and his biography on our website, and help us welcome him by liking our post on Instagram and LinkedIn!

Standing up for transparency and accountability for cyber charter schools

Left: Susan Spicka, executive director of Education Voters PA (left) and Law Center staff attorney Caroline Ramsey outside the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas following oral argument.

Cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania enroll more than 60,000 students and are funded by more than $1 billion in taxpayer funding from school districts—but unlike school districts, public information on how public funds are spent by cyber charter schools is often hard to come by.

In 2022, Education Voters PA filed a Right to Know request asking for information about how Commonwealth Charter Academy (CCA), Pennsylvania’s largest cyber charter school, spends hundreds of dollars per student on reimbursements for activities and classes outside of the school day. In a blog post on their website, Education Voters PA executive director Susan Spicka described a long process of appeals and refusals by CCA, who eventually appealed a decision from the Office of Open Records, which ordered CCA to produce the requested information, to the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas.

“At this point, without the help of an attorney, we would have had to give up and this information would have remained secret,” Spicka wrote. “Fortunately, the Public Interest Law Center agreed to represent Education Voters in this case at no cost to us.” Our staff attorney Caroline Ramsey represented Education Voters PA at oral argument in September 2023, and on February 6, 2024, we won: the court ordered CCA to provide the requested documents to Education Voters by April 6. CCA may still appeal this decision, too—and we will continue to stand with partners like Education Voters PA to demand transparency and accountability from cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania.

Make a Donation