Alternative Approaches to Making a Down Payment on Education Equity

In this paper we compare the impact of two proposals: one in the Shapiro administration’s budget plan and one by the PA Schools Work (PASW) campaign for a down payment on fair and full funding of K-12 schools regarding how far they go in reducing the state’s inequitable and inadequate school funding for school districts on the basis of class, race, and Hispanic ethnicity.1 We show that the PASW proposal, by spending more money and distributing some of that money through the Level Up program, takes a larger step forward in pursuit of the goal of giving every child the “thorough and efficient” public education required not only by basic notions of fairness and equity but by the Pennsylvania Constitution.