James V. Zedak – 3/22/15

This page was last updated on March 29, 2015.

School funding gap needs to be addressed; James V. Zedak; Beaver County Times; March 22, 2015.

Mr. Zedak has written at least 51 letters since 2004. Previous critiques are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“The headline, ‘Pa.’s school spending gap is biggest in U.S.’ is another national black eye for Pennsylvania and it borders on being criminal because it means thousands of children may be deprived of the level of education which can bring prosperity to the commonwealth as a whole.”

[RWC] Previous Zedak letters I critiqued on this topic are here and here.

“This gap is almost double that of the next state, Vermont, which is at 18 percent. However, the solution is not simple in the least because education funding and the taxes that need to support it can only be increased so much before it destroys property ownership in the commonwealth.

“The gap in funding between the wealthy school districts and poor districts became dramatic in the past four years due to deep budget balancing cuts in state aid and long-delayed pension obligation payments coming due.”

[RWC] BS. Folks like Mr. Zedak have been complaining about the “funding gap” or “funding inequity” issue since at least 2003 when I sent a letter on the topic to then-State Rep. Vince Biancucci (D-15).

“Maybe it’s time our Harrisburg politicians quit kicking the can down the road and address the issue immediately, irrespective of party affiliation. These are Pennsylvania children’s futures you are playing with.”

[RWC] The premise of the “funding gap” or “funding inequity” issue is children in “poor” school districts somehow get shortchanged when it comes to education funding. This assertion is wrong and has been since I started fact-checking this claim about 12 years ago. For the 2012-2013 school year, “wealthy” Central Valley School District (CVSD) spent $12,802/student and “really wealthy” Fox Chapel Area SD (FCASD) spent $18,561/student, respectively. “Poor” school districts Aliquippa and Philadelphia spent $17,273/student and $20,173/student, respectively. Further, CVSD and FCASD taxpayers provided 52% and 82%, respectively, of total school district revenue (2011-2012) while Aliquippa and Philadelphia taxpayers provided only 29% and 35%, respectively. You can find the data at openPAgov.org. I’m sure there are examples the other way, but I picked the above “poor” SDs because they are frequently – and falsely – cited as “victims” of “funding inequity.”

Here are a couple of questions. First, even if there were a “funding gap,” who cares as long as the child gets a good education? Second, does the implied goal of a zero “funding gap” mean each school district must spend exactly the same (no more, no less) on a per-student basis as every other school district? This would be unfair to school districts that could afford to spend more if they desired. It would also be unfair to school districts that could provide a more economical quality education.

I suspect the “funding gap” BS is intended to divert the discussion from adequate funding. Why? Despite ever-increasing spending (see chart), year after year we’re told it’s not enough.

Finally, if you wonder why I called CVSD “wealthy” above, ask the BCT. In “Below the surface” (9/25/05), the BCT wrote, “Center Area High School [now CVHS] … is so wealthy that it didn’t have the requisite 40 students to be rated in the [economically disadvantaged] category.”