The 2023 Basic Education Funding Commission (BEFC), a 15-member group consisting of three members from each legislative caucus and three members of the administration, is wrapping up its work after a series of hearings where it gathered testimony from educators and education policy experts about the need to close the vast education funding gap in Pennsylvania’s public schools. To complete its work, the BEFC must develop a plan to ensure that public education is adequately and equitably funded in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania per the recent Commonwealth Court decision that found the current system of funding our public schools is unconstitutional.

To fulfill the Court's mandate, the BEFC must not only review the distribution of funding via the Fair Funding Formula, but also identify how much each district needs for the state to meet its constitutional obligation that every student receives a “meaningful opportunity to succeed academically, socially, and civically.”

On the next page, you will be given a draft email (which you can edit) that will be delivered to all members of the BEFC. Their report is due soon, so it’s important for them to hear from you NOW.

Specifically, PA Schools Work has identified four priorities for the BEFC to address in its final report:

1. Determine the total cost to meet the constitutional standard. This is accomplished by establishing a meaningful adequacy target for each school district as part of the formula that determines how much each district needs to provide its children with a comprehensive, effective, contemporary education, and how the funds will be distributed to the districts.

2. Calculate funding targets that also address unmet needs beyond K-12 basic education funding that were identified by the Court as critical to ensuring meaningful opportunities for all PA public school students, such as facilities, special education, and pre-K.

3. Ensure that the state meets its constitutional obligation by establishing a fair and equitable “state share” for those targets so that low-wealth school districts can reach adequate funding at a reasonable tax effort.

4. Create a plan, with a reasonable timeline, for the state to meet its share of those targets – a roadmap for the governor and state legislature to meet their constitutional mandate.

Please click to the next page to send an email to BEFC members, Governor Shapiro and Lt. Governor Davis – NOW is the time when sending them a message can have a real impact.