Pennsylvanians Deserve the Truth on Education Spending

Originally published at RealClearPennsylvania

Pennsylvania’s Basic Education Funding Commission has begun holding hearings on how to remake the state’s public schools funding formula after a state court determined that the existing formula violates the state constitution. To make informed decisions, the commission, lawmakers, parents, and voters need accurate information. Unfortunately, misinformation about public education funding persists.

For example, the Philadelphia Inquirer recently published an interactive online article full of outdated information, inaccurate data, and misleading commentary about public school funding.

To start, the Inquirer cites funding levels from 2019 – four years on from our current budget debate. In its methodology (in small font at the bottom), the Inquirer admits using a partisan, special-interest-funded analysis. This analysis updated a flawed 2007 “costing out study,” which claimed that if school districts would only spend more, every child would succeed.

Read more at RealClearPennsylvania