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Every child in Pennsylvania has a right to quality public education, yet too many children suffer from inadequate and inequitable education. We have some of the most unequally funded schools in the entire country. The state’s share of K-12 education funding is around 35%, far below the national average of 50%.
The first step to breaking down economic, racial, and gender barriers to opportunity and to creating an economy that works for all of us is to create great schools for everyone.
That includes colleges, too, where unfortunately Pennsylvania ranks 47th out of 50 states for higher education spending per capita. The future of Pennsylvania’s kids and economy are threatened by cuts to funding in higher education. Pennsylvania has cut funding for higher education per student by 33.4% since 2008, the 6th greatest cut of any state in the country.
This results in high tuition which makes college unaffordable for many working families and years of crippling debt for many students. Since 2008, tuition at Pennsylvania state colleges has gone up over $2,500. College costs are 34% of the median income of all families in the state and are worse for Black students at 56% of the median income and Latinx students at 48% median income.
This results in students suffering from crippling student debt that has restricted their ability to contribute to the state’s economy and has affected Black, brown and Hispanic students disproportionately with some of the worst college expense burdens relative to income.
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