The Pennsylvania Budget Crisis and its Effect on Policy for Public Education
David P. Sosar

Abstract
Over the past three decades the amount of state funding provided to the 500 school districts across the state of Pennsylvania has decreased from a high of fifty percent of educational funding to a current thirty-five percent. Reports over the past several years such as the Costing Out Report commissioned by the State General Assembly have identified problems with state funding of education and specific short falls that should altered. The current economic conditions of the state and a projected state debt of four billion dollars do nothing but reduce the state’s ability to provide adequate funding for public education in Pennsylvania. The goal of this paper is to discuss the drastic cuts to education that have been driven by a four billion dollar deficit in the state of Pennsylvania, and identify the problem and solutions that school districts have developed for better or worse.

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