Lower Merion Cited 18 Times In School Funding Lawsuit
Lower Merion School District is cited 18 times in what is being described as a historic lawsuit that could alter the way schools are funded throughout the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The case is tentatively set to go to trial before Commonwealth Court, on September 9.
Click here to read the full complaint.
Rich School District Adjacent to Poor School District
An article published by Pennsylvania Capital-Star on April 2 notes that “Nothing more than four lanes of traffic separate one of Pennsylvania’s wealthiest school districts from one of its poorest.”
In 2015, the Washington Post weighed on the disparities between the Philadelphia and Lower Merion schools, writing “At Martin Luther King High, a hulking half-full school here, there aren’t enough textbooks to go around. If teachers want to make a photocopy, they have to buy paper themselves. Though an overwhelming majority of students are living in poverty, no social worker is available to help. Private donations allow for some dance and music classes, but they serve just 60 of the school’s 1,200 students.
At Lower Merion High, 10 miles away in a suburb of stately stone homes, copy paper and textbooks are available but are rarely necessary: Each student has a school-provided laptop. A pool allows for lifeguarding classes, and an arts wing hosts courses in photography, ceramics, studio art and jewelry making. The campus has a social worker.”
The suit by parents and school districts charges that overreliance on local wealth has caused widespread inadequacy and deep inequality in PA public schools. Read more Public Interest Law Center.
Lower Merion School Board supports “Fair Funding.”
In April of 2019, The Lower Merion School Board lent its support for increased public education funding.
Board President Melissa Gilbert read the following into the record:
Now, therefore be it resolved that the Lower Merion Board of School Directors urges the General Assembly to take legislative action for public education by increasing basic education funding through the state’s fair funding formula; ensuring sufficient resources for special education and career and technical education; and generating the necessary revenues through sustainable, recurring funding sources.
GOP Legislators Filed Objections
In 2018 WHYY.com reported that “Lawyers for State Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, [then] State House Speaker Mike Turzai, and the Pennsylvania Board of Education proffered a series of preliminary injunctions that could stall the case and even, theoretically, nullify it. But lawyers from both sides indicated in oral arguments that the case will likely move forward in some form.”