PHILADELPHIA - A lawsuit claiming that state school funding levels violate the state constitution is set to go to court next month. Pennsylvania has the most inequitable school-funding system in the entire country. Although passage of the fair funding formula and a modest increase in state funding for this coming school year is a step in the right direction, advocates say it isn't enough.

According to attorney Michael Churchill, with the Public Interest Law Center, they looked at the standards set by the formula, and what poor districts need now to meet them.

"We just applied the median statewide average costs that are currently being spent and it comes out to $3.1 billion that is needed in additional state funding," he said.

The lawsuit was filed almost two years ago. Next month the state Supreme Court will hear oral arguments to determine whether the courts can intervene and hold the Legislature accountable.

Jamella Miller is a parent and a plaintiff in the suit. Her oldest daughter went to a school that had adequate funding, but her younger children now attend school in a poorer district. And she said the differences are glaring.

"One of the most striking examples was computer labs," she said. "We are currently in the age of computers where everything is computerized, everything is based off of advanced technology and our current school district does not have that."

After years of cuts to education, the system still relies on property taxes for much of school funding. And Churchill said poor districts simply can't make up the difference.

"Even though they have much higher tax rates than many of the wealthy districts, they can't afford to put in the basics that their children need to meet Pennsylvania standards," he said.

Churchill said even if they win in court, it still will be up to the Legislature to raise the funds and get them to the schools to achieve the state's educational goals.


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Pennsylvanians will rally in Harrisburg on Tuesday urging lawmakers to boost public school funding.

More than 1.7 million students are enrolled in Pennsylvania schools.

Susan Spicka, executive director of Education Voters of Pennsylvania, said her group is among those backing Gov. Josh Shapiro's budget proposal.

It would mean more than $500 million for underfunded schools, $75 million for basic education, and $40 million for special education.

She added that every student deserves a well-funded education and warns that cuts could leave some school districts behind.

"Our message is going to be loud and clear that we need the State Legislature to adopt the entire, full budget package that Gov. Shapiro has proposed," said Spicka. "The full package means that there will be a positive step forward for every school district."

Spicka said they're also urging lawmakers to set a timeline to meet constitutional school funding requirements and to reject private school vouchers.

Her group, along with the PA Schools Work coalition, is leading the rally with support from parents and community groups. The state House and Senate must pass the budget by June 30.

While Advocacy Day is about gaining state lawmakers' support for this year's budget, Spicka said the groups also strongly oppose efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.

She added that they're very concerned about how possible federal funding cuts would affect Pennsylvania students.

"We acknowledge that federal funding is an essential funding stream for public schools, especially for the schools that have students with the greatest need," said Spicka. "So, any cut in federal funding will have an enormous and negative impact on students who have already been the furthest left behind in Pennsylvania."

She estimated that a few hundred people will attend the Harrisburg rally. They have meetings planned with lawmakers, will hold a news conference and speak with state education staff.

She added that anyone who attends can fill out a postcard to leave at their lawmaker's office.




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By Lane Wendell Fischer for The Daily Yonder.
Broadcast version by Freda Ross for Texas News Service Service for the Public News Service/Daily Yonder Collaboration

For many rural students, the road to any college - whether it be out-of-state, in-state, or regional - may not feel like a road at all. It may feel like a winding, overgrown path filled with advisors, unfamiliar processes, and support systems that were never built with small towns in mind.

In five states across the country, a team of researchers and educators is preparing to hit the road to help build better higher education pathways for rural students. But they're not just plotting routes on a map, they're planning something deeper: how to show up in small communities with respect, listen without assumptions, and stay long enough to have a real conversation.

Andrew Koricich is the executive director of the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges, a research and resource hub focused on highlighting the important role of regional colleges in economic and community development.

Koricich is leading this new approach to build paths to higher education by establishing the Rural Talent Lab. The lab, composed of higher education researchers and educators, will partner with state education agencies to increase student access and enrollment in regional colleges. Here, students can acquire training and skills to find good paying work and support local workforce needs, from welding to nursing to culinary arts.

Over the next four years, his team of researchers and state leaders will hop on a charter bus to visit the rural communities they will be working with. Koricich has one goal in mind for these trips: to listen.

"We've got to stop treating rural communities like pit stops," Koricich said in an interview with the Daily Yonder. "If we're going to do work with rural places - not just on them - that starts with how we show up."

He's also checking for neckties.

"When we go on these community tours, I better not see one person in a suit and tie," Koricich said. "That might feel weird, but it matters. Don't dress like a bum - that's insulting - but don't overdress either. We're just people, sitting around having a conversation."

The goals of the project are to help state education agencies form stronger, longer-lasting partnerships with rural schools and communities, Koricich said.

Once that relationship is established, the Talent Lab will work with their state partners to develop statewide plans built by data-driven research, but most importantly, built by the needs and desires of the rural communities themselves.

What makes this project different isn't just the scope of the work - it's how that work gets done. "This can't be extractive," Koricich said. "We're not coming to take. We're coming to listen, to invest, to stay for breakfast the next morning - and to come back again."

The Way You Show Up Matters

That shift in tone and posture runs through every piece of the project. Instead of arriving with a pre-baked plan, the national team is working to support what rural communities already know: what's needed, what's possible, and what will actually stick.

Each state will take its own approach, guided by local priorities. The national team will offer research and coordination, but not direction. And crucially, they're focused on building trust, not just completing a checklist.

That includes making sure local dollars stay local. The teams will eat at community restaurants, sleep in local hotels, and spend their time in town - not just swoop in for a meeting and head back to the city.

Ty McNamee, an assistant professor of higher education at the University of Mississippi and research fellow for the project, says that mindfulness is essential - especially in places where outside help has too often come with a side of condescension.

"Rural communities aren't broken," McNamee said in an interview with the Daily Yonder. "Rural students aren't an 'at-risk population.' That language makes it sound like something's wrong with them - and there's not. They're brilliant. They're capable. They deserve systems that believe in them."

McNamee, who grew up in rural Wyoming, knows what it means when institutions fail to meet rural students where they are. He hopes this work flips the script by not just improving opportunities, but rebuilding trust in the process and trust in higher education.

"We're not showing up to fix people," he says. "We're showing up to learn from them."

That means making space for local ideas and trusting local relationships. And, as Koricich puts it, "getting comfortable being uncomfortable."

After the Tour Bus Leaves

In many ways, the Rural Talent Lab team is built to be temporary. Their role is to help remove the barriers that have, for so long, prevented long-term partnerships between rural communities, regional colleges, and state education leaders.

The project is set to run for four years. Koricich says the goal is to leave something more lasting behind.

"We hope that by the end, the state teams have built durable relationships with the communities they've visited," he said. "They should be able to go back to those folks later and say, 'We tried 43 things, one of them didn't work - let's try again.'"

That kind of long-term relationship-building takes more than strategy. It takes trust. And that trust is built, Koricich says, not just by the content of the work - but by the method.


Lane Wendell Fischer wrote this article for The Daily Yonder.


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As historically Black colleges and universities grapple with declining Black male enrollment, Howard University's "Kings of Campus" initiative is working to reverse the trend through mentorship, exposure and addressing systemic barriers.

Now in its third year, the program targets middle- and high-school students in partnership with school districts to build a pipeline for young Black men to see themselves in higher education. Nationally, Black male enrollment at HBCUs has dropped from 38% in the late 1970s to 26% today, with Howard's Black male population at 19%.

Calvin Hadley, assistant provost for student engagement and academic partnerships, said the issue needs to be addressed swiftly.

"We are really a clarion call for the world because there's a significant concentration here and we are able to feel this a little bit more, but it's really just illuminating what is a national issue, and so I think we've been able to dive deeper into that, we've known about this and have been working on this," Hadley explained.

Howard's model offers a blueprint for Mississippi, where HBCUs such as Jackson State and Alcorn State face similar challenges. With Black men under-represented in higher education nationwide, advocates stress that solutions must extend beyond individual institutions.

The initiative focuses on combating the "belief gap," or the disparity between what Black male students can achieve and what educators often expect of them. Through events such as barbershop talks and a "burning of fears" ceremony, Hadley said the program fosters self-efficacy and community.

"We're dedicated to addressing this issue that didn't originate with us and likely is not going to end with us, but we know that if we can create best practices, if we can better understand what is taking place around the country and create partnerships, collaborations, etcetera," he continued. "We do believe that we could make a significant impact in this."

The decline has broader implications. Research by economist Raj Chetty highlights how Black male educational outcomes disproportionately affect economic mobility and the racial wealth gap. Howard's efforts, including year-round mentorship and campus visits, aim to address these disparities early.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


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