Every child in Pennsylvania deserves robust course choices, class sizes that allow for personalized support, enough school counselors and nurses, and a safe learning environment so they can thrive and succeed in school today and live productive, fulfilling lives after graduation.

But in Pennsylvania our state does not provide students in every community with the support they need to reach their potential.

Many school districts in Pennsylvania are severely underfunded, despite high local tax efforts. These most underfunded districts serve a disproportionate share of the Commonwealth’s students of color, students living in poverty, students with disabilities, and English language learners.

Large funding gaps prevent school districts from meeting the needs of hundreds of thousands of our most underserved students, limiting their educational opportunities and threatening the Commonwealth’s future workforce, tax base, and economy.

In addition to increasing state funding to meet the needs of all 500 districts in Pennsylvania, a separate Level Up supplement fund is needed to accelerate the path to adequacy and equity for the 20% of districts that have the fewest resources available to meet their students’ needs.

In 2021–22, $100 million of new funding was distributed through the Level Up stream. An additional $225 million is being funneled through this funding mechanism this year. A provision in the PA School Code mandates that Level Up funding becomes part of a school district’s base funding for the following years so that all past funding increases through Level Up are guaranteed to be recurring.