Pennsylvania

There have been no recent developments in educational opportunity litigation in Pennsylvania.

In Danson v. Casey, 399 A.2d 360 (1979), plaintiffs alleged that the system by which the School District of Philadelphia was funded violated the state constitution education article because it allocated inadequate funds to the district.  The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania dismissed the action, finding that plaintiffs had failed to state a justiciable cause of action.  The court concluded that the state constitution requires only that the legislative scheme for financing public education has a reasonable relation to providing for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public schools, and noted in dicta that uniformity of funding among school districts is not constitutionally required.

In Marrero v. Commonwealth, 709 A.2d 956 (1998) plaintiffs alleged that the state did not provide the Philadelphia school district with adequate funding to meet the unique educational needs of its students, depriving them of an adequate education in violation of the state constitution education clause.  The appellate court held that their claim presented a non-justiciable political question.

In Pennsylvania Ass’n of Rural and Small Schs. v. Ridge, No. 11 M.D. 1991 (PA Commonw. Ct. July 9, 1998) the trial court similarly dismissed plaintiffs’ adequacy and equity claims as presenting non-justiciable political questions.  Nevertheless, the trial court went on to consider the underlying constitutional arguments, concluding, based on Danson, that the state’s educational funding scheme would have survived the plaintiffs’ challenges under both the Education Clause and Equal Protection provisions of the state constitution because the funding system needed only to have a rational basis, and the plaintiffs had not demonstrated that it was irrational.  The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania affirmed the trial court’s order in a one-sentence decision with no discussion of the case.  737 A.2d 246 (1999).

Though Pennsylvania courts have been unreceptive to education funding cases, advocates in the state have had great success in using alternate strategies to push for reform, as discussed in the State Highlight section below.

“The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth.” Pa. Const. art. 3, § 14.

There are no state court decisions related to state-funded preschool programs. However, in 1976, in O’Leary v. Wisecup, the appellate court wrote “An examination of the state statutes involved here, however, clearly indicates that a local school district is required to provide a free public education only to those resident children who enter school as ‘beginners’ at the primary level (above the kindergarten level), and that the Department’s regulations compel attendance for ‘beginners’, not for kindergarten students. We conclude, therefore, that the state has not statutorily entitled a child to a kindergarten education and that enrollment in kindergarten does not, therefore, create a property interest on behalf of the student concerned.” 364 A.2d 770, 773 (Pa. Commonw. Ct. 1976).

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) made preschool education more of a priority in FY 2004-05 by designating “Early Studies in School” one of the four areas to which it is committed. The PDE acknowledges that “quality pre-kindergarten ... has a lasting positive effect on student achievement well beyond kindergarten.”

Education Accountability Block Grant

Funds under EABG flow to public schools to operate kindergarten programs.  The guidelines for pre-K programs established under EABG instruct that districts should use at least 10% - 20% of the funds to collaborate with community-based, high quality pre-K programs, such as Head Start, early intervention, licensed childcare sites, and private academic nursing homes. 

Districts that use the EABG monies to create a pre-kindergarten program are advised to serve 3- and 4-year-olds and to give preference to students “at the highest risk of future academic failure.”

A pre-K program can offer a half- or full-day program.

Kindergarten for Four-Year-Olds 

K4 is operated exclusively in public schools.

Districts may accept children that are 4-years-old by the first day of the school term.  To be eligible to participate, children must be considered at risk of being not ready for the regular school program and priority is given to children from low-income families.

All public kindergarten programs must remain open for at least 2 ½ hours per day for 180 days per year.

Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program

Grantees are required to follow the federal Head Start Performance Standards

Head Start programs receiving state funding to expand programs under HSSAP may provide extended day services within the program or in cooperation with childcare centers, family home childcare centers, or school districts.

Pre-K Counts

Pre-K Counts may be provided in public schools, Head Start centers, private nursery schools, and other community child care providers meeting state quality standards.  Providers must collaborate and coordinate with other programs and the early childhood community.

Pre-K Counts serves 3- and 4-year-olds.  Grant applicants serving the highest number or percentage of at-risk students will receive priority. 

Eligibility for the program is determined by the age of the child (2 years before their locally determined kindergarten age) as well as other locally determined risk factors, such as income level, children with disabilities, children who are English Language Learners, children who reside in areas of high concentrations of poverty and children who are homeless.

Pre-K counts can offer half- or full-day programs.

The Pre-K Counts program is intended to eventually serve all 3- and 4-year-old children whose families want them to participate. 

Education Accountability Block Grant

Limited funding is made available to districts through the EABG. 

School districts decide how to allocate their EABG funds which can be used for programs such as pre-K and full-day kindergarten

Kindergarten for Four-Year-Olds 

Pennsylvania statutes do not specify a funding mechanism for the K4 program.  A combination of local taxes, public school funds, Title I, and Head Start Partnerships are used to fund the program.

Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program

The state uses supplemental funds for this program. Due to budget cuts in 2008-2009, there was a decrease in HSSAP services and only continutaiton grantees received funding.

Pre-K Counts

Pre-K Counts is funded by legislative appropriations as a competitive grant program.  Grants are allocated to providers on a per-student basis, not to exceed the provider’s actual costs.

According to the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), these programs served 17% of 4-year-olds and 5% of 3-year-olds 2009-2010.  This is an improvement from the 16% of 4-year-olds served in 2008-2009, 11% of 4-year-old served in 2007-2008, and the 7% served in 2006-2007.

Quality Standards

Education Accountability Block Grant

The EABG Program reached 6 out of 10 benchmarks in the 2009-2010 school year. 

The 6 benchmarks reached were:

• Early Learning Standards
• Requirement that teachers have specialized training in pre-K education
• Teacher in-service (at least 15 hours/year)
• Class size limits of 20 students
• Class ratio of 1:10 or better
• Monitoring/Site visit program

The 4 benchmarks not met were:

• Teacher must have Bachelor’s degree
• Assistant teacher must have a Child Development Associate credential, or equivalent
• Screening/referral and support services      
• Requirement to provide at least one meal a day

Kindergarten for Four-Year-Olds 

The K4 program reached 3 out of 10 benchmarks in the 2009-2010 school year. 

The 3 benchmarks reached were:

• Early Learning Standards
• Teacher must have Bachelor’s Degree
• Teacher in-service (at least 15 hours/year)

The 7 benchmarks not met were:

• Requirement that teachers have specialized training in pre-K education
• Assistant teacher must have a Child Development Associate credential, or equivalent
• Class size limits of 20 students
• Class ratio of 1:10 or better
• Screening/referral and support services
• Requirement to provide at least one meal a day
• Monitoring/Site visit program

Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program

HSSAP meets an exceptionally high 8 out of the 10 NIEER benchmarks.  In 2005-2006, HSSAP reached only 6 benchmarks; in 2007-2008, HSSAP reached 7 benchmarks; in 2008-2009, HSSAP reached 8 benchmarks, a trend that reflects steady improvement.

 HSSAP requires that teachers have specialized training in pre-K.  The program does have a limited class size, a student to teacher ratio which exceeds NIEER’s requirements, and screening and referral services.  In addition, HSSAP has a monitoring and site visit program and provides at least one meal a day to participants.

The program does not require that teacher assistants have a Child Development Associate credential or that teachers have a Bachelor’s degree, failing these NIEER benchmarks.

Pre-K Counts

Pre-K Counts reached 6 out of 10 benchmarks in the 2009-2010 school year. 

The 6 benchmarks reached were:

• Early Learning Standards
• Requirement that teachers have specialized training in pre-K education
• Teacher in-service (15 hours)
• Class size limits of 20 students
• Class ratio of 1:10 or better
• Monitoring/Site visit program

The 4 benchmarks not met were:

• Teacher must have Bachelor’s degree 
• Assistant teacher must have a Child Development Associate credential, or equivalent
• Screening/referral and support services      
• Requirement to provide at least one meal a day

All public schools with pre-k programs must include pre-k in their assessment systems.

Pre-K Counts grantees must participate in the ECERS assessment of the preschool program learning environment. Finally, grantees are subject to periodic site visits from Office of Child Development and Early Learning staff.

Pennsylvania Statutes

Pennsylvania Administrative Code

Pennsylvania Department of Education