Want to fix Pennsylvania's education system? Fund our preschools

After months of witness testimony, the state’s first trial on the question of whether Pennsylvania’s school funding system meets its constitutional requirements concluded in March. A decision from Commonwealth Court is expected later this summer. Among many inequitable and inefficient public investments surfaced in the course of the trial, witnesses made it clearer than ever that Pennsylvania needs to increase financial support to make sure that all children have access to high-quality preschool, just as other states have done.

Too many children in Pennsylvania arrive in kindergarten unable to recognize numbers up to 10, unclear about how to open and read a picture book, or unfamiliar with how to hold a pencil, according to the testimony of educators at the trial.

This is heartbreaking — and fixable.

Supported by attorneys from Education Law Center and the Public Interest Law Center, plaintiffs have spent the past three months providing evidence that Pennsylvania’s school funding system is inadequate, inequitable, and unconstitutional. The plaintiffs include cash-strapped school districts and parents of students attending under-resourced public schools.