Three local and regional school districts are among the plaintiffs, along with five public school parents, who are suing the state Legislature for more equitable funding.

Panther Valley, Shenandoah Valley and Wilkes-Barre Area districts are joined by the William Penn (Delaware County), Greater Johnstown and City of Lancaster districts.

Also listed as plaintiffs along with the parents, are the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools and the Pennsylvania branch of the NAACP.

The lawsuit was filed seven years ago, proving how slowly the judicial wheels creak along. To school districts such as Panther Valley, which are distressed and need urgent state aid, this seems like an eternity. In 2018, the trial was expected to start in 2020, but then the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled 5-2 to revive the lawsuit, which once was considered dead and buried.

After opening statements last Friday, the first witnesses were called Monday, and the trial is expected to last into early 2022.

Panther Valley Superintendent David McAndrew Jr. was among those who testified Monday and reiterated some of the district’s shortcomings because of years of inadequate funding. He emphasized that it has taken a drastic toll on the district’s professional personnel, many of whom have left for greener pastures and a less-stressful situation.

With a student population of about 1,700 from Lansford, Summit Hill, Nesquehoning and Coaldale, Panther Valley has been unable to restore significant staff cuts made in 2010, there are no assistant principals or librarians in the district, nor has it been able to adequately staff other deficiencies in the administration, according to the court filing. It’s all about cutting corners to save money.

“We have this cyclical thing that happens in our district where we solve one problem with another,” McAndrew said. He also pointed out that when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March 2020, many districts were able to transition seamlessly to remote learning, but Panther Valley was not able to provide consistent remote learning until the start of the 2020-21 school year.

McAndrew said Panther Valley taxpayers are paying the 10th highest rates in the state, but without sufficient state funding, “it’s not enough in this low-wealth district.”

At Shenandoah Valley, which serves about 950 students from Shenandoah and West Mahanoy Township, the district has already eliminated all of the fat from its budget and for years has been cutting through bone, the court filing said. The district still cannot afford to provide transportation to and from school for all students. As a result of this, students must either walk, sometimes on roads without sidewalks, or find another way to get to school. Superintendent Brian Waite is expected to be among those to testify.

The lawsuit, filed in Commonwealth Court, alleges that state lawmakers, education officials and the governor have not provided a “thorough and efficient” system of education, especially when it comes to lower-income school districts such as the six district plaintiffs. Attorneys for the plaintiffs are arguing that the current system of funding in the state violates provisions of the state Constitution.

When the Constitution was written, it meant that the General Assembly “had the responsibility to support and maintain an equitable system of public education, and they are not,” said Deborah Gordon Klehr, spokesperson with the Education Law Center.

Attorneys for the defense, however, argue that education is a policy issue, not a constitutional question. Patrick Northen, an attorney for House Speaker Bryan Cutler, said, “We can’t elevate concerns that educators have - even if they might be valid - into constitutional deficiencies.” He also said that some of the resources which wealthier districts might be able to afford aren’t guaranteed by the Constitution.

The General Assembly passed and Gov. Tom Wolf signed legislation in 2016 hoping that this would be a major step forward in eliminating the funding gap between well-heeled and impoverished districts, but it didn’t.

Fixed costs, such as pensions, benefits and unfunded mandates continue to confound administrators and boards of education in these districts as each year’s budgetary process generally winds up with considerable belt-tightening and costing taxpayers more in the form of increased real estate taxes to keep the schools afloat.

The Public Interest Law Center said instead of providing for an equitable funding system, the General Assembly and the governor have “adopted an irrational and inequitable system that does not provide the resources students need to meet state standards and discriminates against students based on where they live and the wealth of their local communities.”

Depending on how the court rules, this decision can have significant impact on the future of these districts, especially their students. There is fear that in some worst-case scenarios, they could be taken over by the state for oversight.

Supporters of the lawsuit, including many educators and parents, marched through Harrisburg on Friday to show their support for the plaintiffs.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.