Legislator+urges+schools+to+sue+Pa.+over+education+fund+cut

=By Mary Niederberger= =//Published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette//= =//9/24/11//= = = = = = = =State Rep. Bill Kortz and his Democratic colleagues in the House of Representatives did not have the clout to restore the nearly $1 billion in cuts to public schools that were included in the 2011-2012 state budget.= =But now the Dravosburg Democrat is working on another effort to get education funding restored. He is visiting school districts in and near his district that were hardest hit by the cuts and encouraging them to join in a class action suit against the governor over the funding cuts.= =On Thursday, he urged the West Mifflin Area school board to participate in such a suit and explained that a similar legal action against New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and the New Jersey Legislature resulted in an $850 million restoration of funds to public schools in that state.= =West Mifflin school Director Ted Cale asked the district's solicitor to prepare a resolution for the board to approve supporting such a suit. In July, the South Allegheny board approved a similar motion but included a restriction that no district funds be spent on the suit, district spokeswoman Laura Thomson said.= =Mr. Kortz said he, along with state Rep. Marc Gergely, D-White Oak, have also visited school boards in McKeesport and Baldwin-Whitehall where they were also greeted with supportive comments about the idea. They have plans for future visits to Elizabeth-Forward, Clairton, Duquesne and Steel Valley.= =Mr. Kortz said because the state budget created larger funding cuts to less wealthy districts, it is a "discriminatory budget" and hurts children because the quality of their education depends on where they live.= =However, Tim Eller, spokesman for state Education Secretary Ron Tomalis, said a lawsuit would be a waste of taxpayers' funds because the New Jersey case is not applicable to the budget situation in Pennsylvania.= =He said a similar case was brought in Pennsylvania the late 1980s or early 1990s arguing that not enough funding was going to rural school districts.= =That case, he said, was found in favor of the commonwealth because research found that the state disproportionately funds less wealthy districts, and wealthy districts get more of their support from local taxes.= =Mr. Eller said the loss of stimulus funds, some of which were used to fund state education subsidies in the 2010-2011 budget, made it impossible for the state to provide the same dollar amounts of funding this year.= =Taking stimulus money out of the equation, he said, the legislature and Gov. Tom Corbett actually increased basic education funding levels from the state this year, even though school districts ended up receiving nearly $1 billion less in total.= =Regardless, Mr. Eller said, the state provides significantly more money to less wealthy districts than to wealthy districts. Although the dollar amounts of the cuts to less wealthy districts were larger, the percentage cuts in state aid to all districts were similar, so the discrimination claim does not hold up.= =Part of Mr. Kortz' presentations to districts includes dollar amounts on the cuts to districts, comparing wealthy with less wealthy districts.= =At Thursday's West Mifflin meeting, the legislator compared that district's $261-per-student cut and $6,500-per-class cut for this school year with those in the Upper St. Clair district, which he said were $79 per student and $1,975 per class.= =He said the difference is even more drastic in the Duquesne City School District, which Mr. Kortz said took a $1,520-per-student cut.= ="It's absolutely a discriminatory budget," he said. "A child does not have any control over being born into a poor family or a rich family."= =In New Jersey, the legal action was brought by the Education Law Center in Newark and was based in part on the argument that the funding cuts of $1 billion there prevented all children in the state from receiving a "thorough and efficient education" as called for in the state constitution.= =Mr. Kortz said he believes a legal challenge could be successful because the Pennsylvania constitution includes the same terminology promising a thorough and efficient education.= =In May, the New Jersey Supreme Court in a 3-2 decision ordered that Mr. Christie restore $500 million to 31 low-income districts. While Mr. Christie made it clear he did not agree with the order, he complied but also increased funding in July to other districts as well for a total of $850 million statewide.= =Read more: [|http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11267/1177197-298-0.stm#ixzz1YyKQkeqh] = = = = = = = =News= =home=