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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 21, 2024 02:30 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Paul Friel |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Study on Regionalizing School District Property Tax Revenue |
| In light of the Commonwealth Court ruling that Pennsylvania’s public education funding is inadequate, inequitable, and ultimately unconstitutional, it is essential that we live up to our obligation to correct these shortcomings and provide for a quality education for all of our students. One of the primary drivers of our education funding disparities is our heavy reliance on local property tax revenue to fund public schools. This hyper-localized funding approach has meant that a low wealth school district can have a very high local tax rate and struggle to raise adequate funds, while a high wealth school district can have a relatively low local tax rate and still raise ample funds. I believe it is important to look at new methods to ensure that property tax revenue serves to increase the quality and equity of Pennsylvania’s public schools. I am proposing a resolution to study whether it is feasible and beneficial to pool property tax revenue at the intermediate unit level and distribute it to school districts based on the number of students they serve. To determine the financial impacts of this idea, this resolution would direct the Pennsylvania Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a statewide study which would collect data on every school district’s property tax revenue, determine total revenue if school districts pooled property tax revenue at the intermediate unit level, and evaluate if distributing those funds based on the number of students in each school district would provide more equitable education funding. We need more creative approaches to solving this decades-long problem of funding school districts, and collecting and analyzing data from this study would help us to understand school district funding disparities from a regional perspective and determine the next steps. Please join me in supporting this resolution to study how school district property tax revenue can be used to address the funding disparities in public education. |
Introduced as HR350