Underfunded

We’ve gone through the history of public school underfunding in PA, and we’ve taken a look at what the results on the ground look like. But now that the trial is underway, one big question remains: What happens now? In this final episode of Underfunded, we hear from a host of folks — a lawyer, some teachers, a former legislator, an activist and an academic — surveying the current landscape.

To keep up with the trial and learn more about the fight to fairly fund public schools in PA, visit: FundOurSchoolsPA.org

To keep up with our hosts, follow Melanie Bavaria at @melaniebav on Twitter, and Meg St-Esprit at @MegStEsprit on Twitter.

On today's episode, we look at how PA's public schools have come to the impasse they're in now, at the hand of shifting political priorities over the past handful of governors and presidents.

Underfunded is a project of the Publc Interest Law Center, with a grant from the William Penn Foundation. For more information on the fight to fairly fund public schools in PA, and ways to get involved, visit: fundourschoolspa.org.

History buffs take note! On this week’s show, we talk with a historian, a longtime journalist and a former legislator and learn that underfunding of PA public schools is very possibly older than the schools themselves.

On today’s episode, we continue our “road trip” across PA to look at underfunding’s effects in our more rural communities. Along the way, we hear from folks who reveal that the problem has manifested in ways that are generational, often racialized, and just about omnipresent all over the state. Plus, a longtime observer of PA rural schools gives us an overhead view of he’s seen over years in PA rural and small town schools.

This week, we begin a two-part road trip around PA, checking in across the state to hear stories from superintendents and students alike, visiting cities, small towns, rural areas, and everything in between. On today’s episode, we take a look at what’s going on in Allentown and Erie.

Join us for part two, when we hear what underfunding looks like in Slippery Rock, Dusquene, and small rural districts across the state.

Note: This show contains lots of facts and figures regarding the size and shape of underfunding in public schools in PA! If data like this is your jam, visit FundOurSchoolsPA.org/the-map.

SHARE YOUR STORY: Likewise, to share your own story how underfunded PA public schools have affected you, your family, or your community, visit FundOurSchoolsPA.org/tellus.

Public schools in PA aren't fairly funded, and this has been the case for decades. In episode one of Underfunded, hosted by education journalists Melanie Bavaria and Meg St-Esprit, we take a look at what it's really like on the ground right now, for teachers, kids and communities. Along the way, we'll talk with educators, community organizers, and legal experts who confront daily the struggle of educating in a massively underfunded environment.

Underfunded is a project of the Publc Interest Law Center, with a grant from the William Penn Foundation. For more information on the fight to fairly fund public schools in PA, and ways to get involved, visit: fundourschoolspa.org.

Public school funding in Pennsylvania has been on the skids for decades now, but today, it’s doing real harm all over the state. And this isn’t by accident. PA’s legislature has created a system where the kids who need the most, get the least, usually because of where they live.

So much so that across the Keystone State, 86% of public school students are attending schools that are underfunded. And lots of Pennsylvanians are saying enough is enough. Some of them have gone so far as to take the state to court for failure to properly fund our schools — a constitutional right — with a landmark trial slated to begin in Harrisburg this fall.

We’ve spent the last few months interviewing people all over the state to find out the history of underfunding in PA, what it’s doing to students, teachers and families all over the state, and where it all could go from here And we’re ready to show you what we’ve found.

This is Underfunded, and it’s coming soon wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe now, and visit FundOurSchoolsPA.org to find out more.

With your hosts: Meg St-Esprit, a mom and a journalist who writes about parenting and education for Pittsburgh’s PublicSource, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and more. And Melanie Bavaria, education journalist who has been covering Philadelphia’s schools for the past several years for outlets like The Notebook, Chalkbeat, Next City, and others.

Underfunded is a project of the Public Interest Law Center, with grant support from the William Penn Foundation.

For more information on the fight to fund public schools in PA, visit [FundOurSchoolsPA.org](FundOurSchoolsPA.org).