Pennsylvania’s Adequacy Funding Formula Deserves Scrutiny

Originally published by The Bulletin.

State Democratic lawmakers, including state Senate Majority Leader Jay Costa, are celebrating the newly passed state budget.

“This budget builds on the incredible momentum we have built over the past three years by committing dollars to equity and adequacy funding for our schools,” Costa says.

But there’s something demonstrably wrong with Pennsylvania’s adequacy funding. More than half of the 2026–27 supplemental funding goes to only 15 school districts—none of which
is in Costa’s district. The School District of Philadelphia alone will receive $136 million in new adequacy funding this year. That’s more than ten times what all the schools in Costa’s district will receive combined.

Read more at The Bulletin.