The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s system for funding its public schools. Petitioners and state officials will make opening statements Friday. First witnesses are expected Monday.
A historic lawsuit filed seven years ago, challenging the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s school funding system, will go to trial in Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg this morning.
Opening statements from the petitioners in the case are expected starting at 9:30 a.m., with the statements from the executive and legislative respondents in the case to follow. Witness testimony is expected to begin on Monday.
The trial will be livestreamed on YouTube in its entirety. Due to COVID restrictions, access to the courtroom itself is limited to counsel, their clients, witnesses, and court staff. The court is providing an overflow room for a limited number of members of the media and spectators to watch the proceedings via livestream. Commonwealth Court Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer is presiding. It is a non-jury trial.
The case has profound implications for the future of Pennsylvania, a state with some of the widest resource gaps between school districts in the nation, and its 1.7 million public school students. Petitioners argue that the state’s funding system is not only inadequate and inequitable but also violates the education clause and equal protection provisions of the state Constitution.
The petitioners who sued state officials include six Pennsylvania school districts, two statewide associations, and four parents. They are represented by attorneys from the Education Law Center, Public Interest Law Center, and O’Melveny.
The lawsuit has attracted widespread support across Pennsylvania—see these statements from school superintendents in other underfunded school districts that are not part of the lawsuit.
“During the trial, our witnesses will tell the stories of Pennsylvania’s students in low-wealth school districts who have been directly impacted by Pennsylvania’s inequitable school funding system,” said Education Law Center legal director Maura McInerney. “Educators, students, and parents will explain how children have contended with outdated textbooks, overcrowded classrooms, antiquated science labs, empty libraries, and unsafe school buildings. They will talk about the resources students needed that their schools couldn’t provide – reading specialists, math tutors, school counselors, and access to remedial support.”
“Our case will provide the court with a complete understanding of how the system of education funding in Pennsylvania works, and how it deprives thousands and thousands of students in low-wealth school districts of the opportunity to have an effective education,” said Michael Churchill, attorney for the Public Interest Law Center. “In many other states that had similar issues, cases like ours have been filed that were successful and brought about increased state investments, greater equity, and substantial improvements in the educational outcomes and well-being of students.”
For background on the case, William Penn et al. v. PA Dept. of Education et al., see this press kit or visit FundOurSchoolsPA.org, a joint online project of the Education Law Center-PA and the Public Interest Law Center.
The Public Interest Law Center uses high-impact legal strategies to advance the civil, social, and economic rights of communities in the Philadelphia region facing discrimination, inequality, and poverty. We use litigation, community education, advocacy, and organizing to secure their access to fundamental resources and services in the areas of public education, housing, health care, employment, environmental justice and voting. For more information, visit www.pubintlaw.org or follow on Twitter @PubIntLawCtr.
The Education Law Center-PA (ELC) is a nonprofit, legal advocacy organization with offices in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, dedicated to ensuring that all children in Pennsylvania have access to a quality public education. Through legal representation, impact litigation, community engagement, and policy advocacy, ELC advances the rights of underserved children, including children living in poverty, children of color, children in the foster care and juvenile justice systems, children with disabilities, English learners, LGBTQ students, and children experiencing homelessness. For more information, visit elc-pa.org or @edlawcenterpa on Twitter.