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Education In Pennsylvania Essay

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Education is primarily a state and local responsibility in the United States. It is the states and its communities, as well as public and private organizations of all kinds, that establish schools and colleges, develop curricula, and determine requirements for enrollment and graduation. In Pennsylvania, the enactment of Act 61 of 2008 will make funding for public education in Pennsylvania more adequate, equitable, and predictable for the first time since 1991. Although tax systems change from year to year, sources of revenue for education in many states in the U.S. comprise predominantly of general sales tax, individual income tax, selective sales taxes, corporation net income and property taxes.
In Pennsylvania, the main source for state …show more content…

In former years, basic education aid was by far the largest chunk of the state education contribution and was influenced heavily by past aid amounts and political arrangements that benefited only selected districts. Furthermore, Pennsylvania did not regularly adjust state aid to account for changes in enrollment, local wealth, numbers of English Language Learners (ELL), or other district and student characteristics. Instead, Pennsylvania distributed state aid based on a historical baseline and allocations from previous year. Interestingly, the state's policy implemented that a district will get at least as much state aid as it got the year before.
A school funding formula, in any state, should specifically address issues identified in state school funding and follow these ensuing key principals:
(1) Adequacy to ensure that the appropriate resources are readily available so that students have the ability to meet statewide academic standards.
(2) Equity to ensure that state funds are fairly distributed and that spending levels are aligned to tax …show more content…

School district spending varies between school district and its exceptionality as defined by its community preferences and student needs. As noted in the Funding PA article published by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, over 90% of Pennsylvania school districts spend more than 90% of their funds on instruction and support functions, which the largest expenditure being salaries. These instructional support functions include regular education, special education, career-technology education an adult education. The remaining funds are typically allotted for buying and maintaining buildings, equipment purchases and paying

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