During a public hearing on improving school funding, the Pennsylvania Basic Education Funding Commission heard from people who stressed the need to set fair and adequate funding targets for every school in the state.

Aaron Chapin, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association and a 4th and 5th grade teacher at Stroudsburg Area Middle School, testified at the most recent hearing. He said it is important for the new plan to be transparent and sustainable, and fix the funding inequities across the state.

Chapin noted the association has found many equity gaps, which need to be closed.

"We took a look at 100 districts that are in the lowest quintiles, we looked at 100 districts with the lowest incomes and the 100 districts with the wealthiest incomes," Chapin outlined. "We saw that these districts, with the lowest income, spend 30% less per weighted student than the wealthiest 100 districts."

The commission has been gathering feedback from educators, policymakers and parents throughout the fall. Its goal is to develop a comprehensive plan to meet the requirements of a court ruling in February, which found Pennsylvania's public school funding system unconstitutional.

Chapin acknowledged fixing the education funding system will not happen immediately, but hopes the commission will look closely at funding for special education, building construction and other educational needs.

"We also hope that they're going to be looking to reestablish the state charter school reimbursement at about $500 million, and annually index it to meet the inflation costs that have been rising," Chapin explained. "Because over the last decade, payments to school districts for charter schools and cyber schools, they have increased by $1.4 billion."

He added a clear timeline is also important, as well as addressing critical staffing shortages, as he describes the lack of qualified teachers and staff as having reached a "crisis level." He noted there has been a 75% drop in applicants seeking first-year teaching certificates in the Commonwealth.

After 17 years, the state of New York is re-evaluating its school funding formula. The state budget agreement calls for the Rockefeller Institute to study it.

Education advocates have noted that learning loss from the pandemic and the youth mental-health crisis have made this change more necessary. Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children of New York, said the new formula must allocate funds for homeless students and students in the foster-care system.

"Currently," she said, "the formula does not provide any additional funding for those populations of students who have distinct educational needs and often face barriers to success in school."

A 2023 report noted that more than 119,000 New York City students are homeless. Other recommendations to improve the funding formula include providing resources for New York City to implement its new class-size requirements, improvements to special-education distribution funding, and cost-effective strategies to aid multilingual learners.

The final report from the Rockefeller Institute will be presented in early December.

Political will from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Legislature remain a challenge to implementing some formula changes. Levine noted that pandemic funding was used to create a host of beneficial programs for students in New York City. Without that continuous federal funding, she said, New York State has to pick up the slack.

"These are programs that were needed before the pandemic and are still needed today," she said. "But, the federal funding has now expired, and so there's a need for the state to contribute more resources."

Some of those programs included doubling 3-K program participation, bolstering preschool special education, hiring 500 school social workers and psychologists, and creating a program to have coordinators help students living in shelters get to school.

A Detroit educator recently told a congressional committee he is "terrified" at what a second Trump term as president could bring for America's public schools.

Rodney Fresh, a high school social studies teacher in Detroit, said parts of the Republican agenda appear to call for dismantling the public education system. He added the transition plan known as Project 2025 would "kick the ladder out from under" students who need it the most and eliminate the federal Department of Education.

"Why do they want to weaken public schools? If you ask me, it's because they fear what public schools do - we teach critical thinking, honest history and tolerance - and because diverse, educated citizens threaten their power," he asked.

Project 2025 is a 900-page blueprint by the conservative Heritage Foundation for reorganizing the federal government under a Republican administration. It calls for privatizing the public school system and cutting funding for more than 180,000 teaching positions.

Former President Donald Trump has denied any connection to the plan.

Fresh, who is a second-generation instructor, teaches ninth-grade U.S. history, 11th-grade world history and Advanced Placement African American studies. He warned that under Project 2025, classes on African American history would be censored, help for students with disabilities would be eliminated, and programs like Head Start, one of the most successful preschool programs of its kind, would be cut.

"This would shut off access to high-quality early childhood education for students in Detroit. It would also take away a lifeline many parents count on to give their kids a real opportunity and fair shot at overcoming poverty," Fresh added.

Fresh told members of the U.S. House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee that under the plan's guidelines, millions of public school students whose families can't afford to send them to private schools would be deprived of the benefits of a quality public education.

"We can and must do better for the sake of our students. We cannot - and I repeat - we cannot allow Project 2025 to dismantle public education and destroy such an essential pillar of our democracy," he said.


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Metro Nashville Public Schools and Nashville State Community College are working together to help some high school students launch health care careers.

They can take college courses and earn a technical certificate in the field of Central Sterile Processing. The "Better Together" partnership helps graduates prepare for and complete college.

Shanna L. Jackson, president of Nashville State Community College, said the state-funded $2 million grant brings her school's surgical technical program to Pearl-Cohn and Maplewood High Schools. The funds will be used to set up a sterile processing lab in a classroom and hire two new faculty members, one at each school.

"As juniors, they'll take dual enrollment courses. As seniors, they'll take dual enrollment courses. In the summer, they're actually going to have clinical experiences with area health care providers," Jackson outlined. "And they will actually be able to sit for that exam and be well on their way to a career or come to Nashville State and finish their Associate Degree in Surgical Technology."

Jackson explained central sterile technicians store, clean, sterilize, assemble and prepare medical equipment used during procedures. She added Gov. Bill Lee and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission recently announced funding for this initiative and 22 others through the Governor's Investment in Vocational Education program.

Jackson stressed the Better Together initiative was designed to bridge the gap between high school and college, aiming to increase both enrollment and graduation rates at Nashville State. She noted they have been working to build pathways for students to get jobs in some high-demand, high-wage fields.

"We have now an early college that's in its fourth year at Whites Creek High School, and we're starting early colleges at Glencliff and Cambridge," Jackson pointed out. "This gives students that are in high school the opportunity to not take Senior English, but to take English Composition with Nashville State."

The students earn dual credit for high school and college. The "early college high school" program recently received a National Blue Ribbon Award from the U.S. Department of Education.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.