Officials: State budget's school 'adequacy funding' a good step, but 'still work to do'; some districts left out (2024)

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The new school year is right around the corner, and many area districts are starting with a financial boost through the new “adequacy funding” in the state budget.

That boost is a result of the Commonwealth Court ruling in February 2023 that the Pennsylvania government isn’t properly funding school districts.

A statewide legislative study led to an initial investment of more than $500 million in this year’s enacted budget for the state’s 500 districts, to try to make up the difference for underfunded schools over the next seven years.

“It is a step in the right direction,” Richland School District Superintendent Arnold Nadonley said, but not good enough.

According to Pennsylvania Department of Education information, Richland is expected to get about $118,000 this year, with a target of about $1.1 million in the next seven years.

Nadonley said that number is not even half the annual amount PDE previously said Richland is underfunded by and needs, which was more than $4 million.

Part of the problem is how his district is viewed, he said.

“We’re recognized as a wealthy school district by the state, but what their formula doesn’t take into account is … our demographics have changed, but our funding hasn’t,” Nadonley said.

The problem has been exacerbated, he said, by numerous commercial real estate appraisal challenges in the past five years that have decreased the district’s revenue.

The adequacy formula is calculated through a multi-step equation that takes into account a target figure for each district, equal to the sum of the school district’s student-weighted basic education funding and special education funding, as well as the investment gap and the state’s share of that deficit.

This revenue source is separate from state-supplied basic education funding and special education funding – every district in Cambria and Somerset counties received an increase in those categories this year of several thousand dollars.

‘Kick in the teeth’

For some regional school districts, the adequacy money is a boon that will help with salaries and operational expenses, but others have seemingly been left out of the equation.

Central Cambria School District Superintendent Jason Moore was shocked to see his district, which had a proposed adequacy funding amount of roughly $164,000 this year and $1.2 million for the program’s duration, will not receive any additional money.

PDE data shows that Central Cambria and Conemaugh Valley school districts in Cambria County will not get any adequacy funding this year.

In Somerset County, Meyersdale Area, Rockwood Area, Salisbury-Elk Lick, Shade-Central City, Shanksville-Stonycreek and Turkeyfoot Valley Area school districts have been left out.

“With a 6% overall increase in the education budget state-wide, Central Cambria should have received a fair share of that funding,” Moore said.

He faulted the data used in calculating the allotments, saying it’s not current.

“One of the biggest data points is the district’s total market value from the State Tax Equalization Board, and that is from 2021,” Moore said. “Obviously, that valuation includes the overinflated assessment of the power plant, so the district not receiving any funding at all from the adequacy formula is a double kick in the teeth to our students and local taxpayers.”

Last year, a tax assessment appeal of the CPV Fairview Energy Center in Jackson Township revealed that its assessed property value was overinflated. That led the district to owe the company millions of dollars.

Some of that debt was paid up front, with the rest, about $900,000, to be paid back throughout the next nine years at no interest.

Moore said he thinks the Central Cambria school board not raising taxes for the past 11 years also hurt its adequacy allocation, because it appeared to the state there was little local effort to fund the schools.

“While nearly every other neighboring district was increasing local taxes modestly to keep pace with inflation, Central Cambria looked to reduce costs and to operate more efficiently,” he said. “While one would think that kind of fiscal responsibility would be encourage and rewarded, that hasn’t proven to be the case.”

Shade-Central City School District Superintendent Travis Robison was also taken aback by the change. He said the district had expected $241,585 this year, based on proposed figures, and had not been alerted of any change to the formula.

Robison said school districts always operate on the premise that money from the state isn’t guaranteed, but said Shade-Central City had anticipated that financial boost for student programs and related endeavors.

‘Incredibly grateful’

Greater Johnstown School District will receive the largest adequacy investment in the area, with $2.9 million this year toward a total of more than $26 million.

The district was one of the initial petitioners in the lawsuit that led to the Commonwealth Court ruling, and Superintendent Amy Arcurio testified during the case about the district’s extreme need for more financial assistance from the state.

“We are incredibly grateful for any additional dollars that we receive,” she said. “The increased funding was immediately put to a budget deficit that we predicted for this school year.”

Greater Johnstown is one of the most impoverished districts in the region and is underfunded by several million dollars.

Arcurio said the money the district is set to receive during the adequacy program only scratches the surface of what’s needed.

“When you look at the totality of what we’ve been missing over many years, that dollar amount equals to 11% of what we should have been getting all along,” she said.

Like Richland, Greater Johnstown has faced real estate appraisal challenges that have significantly decreased local revenue, Arcurio said. With those losses, the increase in state investment is spent quickly.

She expressed her gratitude to legislators for taking an important step toward correcting the funding situation, but said, “We still have work to do.”

Greater Johnstown will use the nearly $3 million to create positions that will benefit the long-term planning of the district, she said, such as adding another reading specialist to the elementary school, and will help with existing teacher contract negotiations.

“We’re grateful and optimistic for the future that it continues so that Greater Johnstown School District can plan long-term systemic changes for our students that change the trajectory of their productivity after high school graduation,” Arcurio said. “We can do that by investing today in our students’ future.”

As for many districts across the state not receiving any adequacy boost, Arcurio said that’s a “clear example that there’s still work to do.”

Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg, senior attorney for The Public Interest Law Firm, which was involved in the funding lawsuit, said the likely cause for the discrepancies between the proposed budget and what was passed was the information used. He said census data for the districts that measures the broader community was used, instead of in-school poverty statistics.

“This had a significant impact on Shade-Central City, Central Cambria, Cambria Heights, Conemaugh Valley, Richland, Greater Johnstown and others,” he said.

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