Education

School budget report details how districts are spending relief funds

Sen. Bob Casey reads a book to a group of Pre-K students in Reading.

Sen. Bob Casey reads a book to a group of Pre-K students in Reading. MediaNews Group/Getty

Labor shortages, rising costs and access to technology: the economic concerns of many are hitting school districts across the commonwealth. 

The Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials, known as PASBO, released its winter school district budget report Monday alongside the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators. The two groups conducted surveys of school districts and officials to determine the financial, operational and economic issues facing public schools across the commonwealth. 

School districts received federal stimulus funds through the Elementary and Secondary School Education Relief (ESSER) Fund during the pandemic, totaling more than $7 billion over three separate federal acts from March 2020 to March 2021. Much of the funding is required to be allocated for support learning for students impacted by lost instructional time, and school districts now have until September 2024 to hear from students, parents, teachers and administrators about how to spend the billions of remaining ESSER funds. 



The report found that school districts are spending ESSER funds mainly to purchase educational technology equipment, implement programs targeted for student learning loss, maintain or increase staffing levels and provide mental health support services for students. 

It cites bus driver and staffing shortages, as well as increased costs and supply chain issues, among school districts’ chief financial concerns. The findings also come amid the ongoing fair school funding trial in Pennsylvania that pits a group of school districts, parents, the state conference of the NAACP and the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools against the governor, the department of education, education secretary, state board of education and the leaders in the General Assembly. 

“Over the last 10 years [mandated costs] have grown by $6.5 billion, while state funding has only grown 2.8 billion,” Dr. Andrew L. Armagost, director of advocacy and analytics, PASBO, told City & State. “The issue of funding keeps coming back because we don't address either the mandate side or the funding side, and so even though we do have historic levels of education funding, we have historic levels of mandated costs.”

Higher costs have hit school districts in a multitude of ways throughout the pandemic. Some of the mandated costs can be attributed to increasing charter school tuition rates, enhanced health and safety protocols, and new programs targeting students in need. 

During a Senate Democratic Policy Committee hearing Tuesday, Pennsylvania State Education Association President Rich Askey spoke on the need for a long-term solution to staffing shortages. 

“The deterioration of the educator pipeline occurred steadily over a 10-year period, so we must begin our efforts with the understanding that fixing this problem is not something that is going to occur in a single budget year,” Askey said. “It’s going to take a sustained, multi-year effort to turn the tide – one that should be informed by data and outreach to current educators and young people to understand the challenges they are facing to stay in or enter the profession.”

PASBO recommended state and federal policymakers find ways to help schools continue investing in successful programs beyond ESSER funds’ expiration dates, assist schools in overcoming supply chain challenges, and expand funding support for schools experiencing compounded growth in mandated costs. 

Gov. Tom Wolf has boosted education spending throughout his time in Harrisburg, and with his final budget address approaching, he’s expected to make one last effort to solidify his legacy in that area. 

“Investing in education has been a priority throughout the Wolf administration and we appreciate PASBO’s advocacy as we seek to invest further in education,” Kendall Alexander, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, said in a statement. “The governor believes more must be done to fund our schools and he will continue to make investments in education a priority when he releases his budget proposal next week.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.