Two years ago six school districts filed a lawsuit claiming that the state has “adopted an irrational and inequitable school financing arrangement.” According to former U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, our schools have the most inequitable funding in the nation.

Recently the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the case may continue and found that the “state constitution is not a loose set of guidelines.”

Justice David Wecht wrote, “It is settled … that constitutional promises must be kept.” This should keep every legislator awake at night; they may no longer be able to hide from the supreme law of Pennsylvania. What are the words in our constitution that clearly define the issue at hand? Article 3; Section 14: 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.

The state government is breaking its own law by failing to provide 100 percent school funding from the state level and failing to equitably fund schools. Article 8; Section 1: All taxes shall be uniform, upon the same class of subjects, within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and shall be levied and collected under general laws.

Two identical homes in the same school district are taxed differently. This violates the uniformity clause. SB76 clearly corrects illegal targeting of property owners to fund schools while providing a more stable and secure funding source for our children’s education. Faced with the prospect of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upholding the words of our Constitution, I suspect more legislators will be backing SB76.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert Kistler

Palmerton