Panther Valley and other underfunded school districts won a victory in February, when the Commonwealth Court ruled the state’s school funding formula unconstitutional.

The funding formula put students in poorer districts at a disadvantage, the court said, and it tasked the state with finding an equitable way to fund school districts.

Panther Valley was among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Its superintendent, David McAndrew Jr., bluntly told the court, “We’re broke.”

He also testified before a bipartisan panel tasked with finding another way to fund Pennsylvania’s schools this fall.

McAndrew said he sat before the Basic Education Funding Commission to help members “understand what the Court understood: that our kids deserve much more.”

“Our local taxpayers try very hard to support our schools,” McAndrew told the commission. “But because our community is not wealthy it is not enough - not even close.

“There is nowhere else for us to turn,” he said.

A Penn State professor told the panel that the state’s schools need an additional $6.2 billion to properly educate students, and that the additional funding would improve outcomes in low performing schools.

Sen. David Argall, who sits on the commission, also asked McAndrew if more funding would improve outcomes at Panther Valley, and he said, “Yes.”

“Our students are incredibly resilient, they want to learn and with support, they can achieve as much as kids in any other community,” he said.

“I think my district has limitless potential,” McAndrew said.

Panther Valley did receive some “level up funding” to help bring the district up to a level of the richer districts, but McAndrew said that it’s not enough.

The growing district has been underfunded for so long that additional funds only help to keep pace, but not enough to get ahead, he said in September.

The Basic Education Commission wrapped up its hearings in November, and a final report is expected Jan. 11.