Pennsylvania’s education system is broken: here’s how to fix it

Originally published in The Patriot-News

Are Pennsylvania schools underfunded? Before COVID-19, 52 percent of Pennsylvania voters thought so. Then, after voters learned the actual price tag, this number dropped by half.

Three years later, a Franklin & Marshall College poll finds only 44 percent of respondents believe schools lack funding, revealing a subtle yet notable shift in public sentiment. As education spending balloons—soaring 55.7 percent in the last decade—Pennsylvanians are increasingly skeptical of demands for more education funding.

New data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education shows statewide per-pupil funding reached $21,263 last school year, up from $19,966 the year before. That’s $452,260 per classroom and among the highest per-pupil spending in the country.

Read more in The Patriot-News