Suit claims Corbett failed to provide proper education

SIX PENNSYLVANIA school districts, parents, a group representing rural and small school districts, and the NAACP filed a lawsuit yesterday accusing Gov. Corbett and other state officials of failing to provide students with a proper education.

The long-anticipated suit, filed in Commonwealth Court on behalf of the plaintiffs by the Education Law Center and the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, claims that the state's "irrational and inequitable" funding system is unconstitutional on two grounds: that it does not provide a "thorough and efficient" system of public education, as required by the state's Constitution; and that it discriminates against students who live in poorer communities.

It also argues that the state has implemented academic standards that students are unable to meet as a result of the inadequate funding.

"We're at crisis levels. We have too many students who are not getting basic support and education services," David Lapp, an attorney with the Education Law Center, said on a conference call with reporters. Although Gov.-elect Tom Wolf has pledged to increase investment in public education and a statewide commission is set to release a report on a fair-funding formula this winter, Lapp said the conditions require immediate action. "This is just something that we can't wait any longer for."

The complaint says 300,000 of the 875,000 students tested on state standardized tests in 2012-13 failed to meet proficiency on the exam, and more than half of students are unable to pass the Keystone Exams, which will be a graduation requirement for high school seniors by 2017.

The state's 2007 costing-out study showed that 95 percent of districts required additional funding, totaling $4.4 billion, the suit says. The General Assembly passed a bill in 2008 with funding targets and a formula for distributing funds to make sure all students could meet academic standards. In 2011, the suit alleges, Corbett and the Legislature "abandoned the funding formula, slashed funding to districts by more than $860 million" and passed legislation restricting districts from providing a proper education.

It asks the court to declare the current system unconstitutional and order officials to implement a formula that meets constitutional requirements - and allocate the necessary funding.

"We're not going to prescribe how the Legislature goes about doing its job," said Jennifer Clarke, executive director of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia. "Our point is, right now it's very clear it's not doing its job because children are just not getting the resources" they need.

The plaintiffs named are William Penn, Panther Valley, Lancaster, Greater Johnstown, Wilkes-Barre and Shenandoah school districts; parents of six students, including one from Philadelphia; the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools, which represents about 170 school districts; and the NAACP-Pennsylvania State Conference.

In addition to Corbett, the defendants are Acting Education Secretary Carolyn Dumaresq and two Republican leaders in the House and Senate.

A similar lawsuit was filed in 1999. Ultimately, the courts said the matter should be left to the Legislature because there was no way to determine whether students were meeting academic standards. That is no longer the case, the suit alleges.

The defendants have 30 days to respond to the suit. Department of Education spokesman Tim Eller said, via email, "The state courts have consistently ruled that funding for public schools is under the sole discretion of the General Assembly, and it is not an issue in which the courts would be involved." He noted that the state's current budget provides $10 billion for public education, the highest amount ever.