















































An Introduction to the Special Issue on Education Policy


An Introduction to the Special Issue  
on Education Policy

JOSEPH P. McLAUGHLIN, JR.
MICHELLE J. ATHERTON

Special Issue Editors

Public education is arguably a state government’s most important func-
tion. In Pennsylvania, slightly more than one-third of general fund 
expenditures (35.17%) were dedicated to Pre-K–12 education in FY 

2014–2015. In 2014, following deep cuts in state aid to public schools, an incum-
bent governor, Tom Corbett, was defeated in a bid for re-election, the first time 
this has happened since the 1968 PA Constitution allowed governors to seek 
a second term. Governor Tom Wolf won, pundits and polls affirmed, on the 
issue of education funding: the electorate wanted more dollars from the state.

According to the Franklin and Marshall College Poll, voters identified 
education as the most important problem facing Pennsylvania from May 2013 
through June 2015, only to be supplanted by government and politicians at the 
end of 2015 and early 2016. After having campaigned on the promise of more 
education funding from the state, Governor Wolf engaged in a protracted 
budget battle with the Republican legislature in Harrisburg. The disagree-
ment is perhaps not about the exact level of education funding, but how to pay 
for it. So the promise of more dollars from state coffers for education has led 
to the longest budget impasse since 1971.

This special issue of COMMONWEALTH tackles the important policy 
topic of education on a number of fronts. As is common across the country, 
Pennsylvania’s largest local source of education funding  comes in the form of 

COMMONWEALTH, Volume 18, Issue 1 (June 2016). © 2016 The Pennsylvania Political Science Association. 
ISSN 2469-7672 (online). http://dx.doi.org/10.15367/cjppp.v18i1.80. All rights reserved.



4 JOSEPH P. McLAUGHLIN, JR., AND MICHELLE J. ATHERTON

property taxes. David G. Argall (a Pennsylvania state senator) and Jon Hop-
craft (director of the Senate Policy Committee) contend it is the “worst tax to 
fund schools.” While it might have made sense in the 1830s when it was first 
enacted, they argue, it is no longer a fair or equitable way to fund schools. 
Senator Argall’s effort to abolish the property tax for schools narrowly failed 
Senate passage in November 2015. Economist William A. Fischel takes an 
opposing view, making the case for an efficient link between property values 
and the quality of schools in a particular district: his so-called “homevoter 
hypothesis.” Those voters without children in the schools, he argues, have 
a direct financial incentive to raise their own taxes in order to increase or 
maintain the value of their homes.

Another common theme in the education debate in Pennsylvania is the 
absence of a predictable and reliable funding formula. It is one of just three 
states without a formula based on actual student needs and accurate student 
counts. Recognizing this deficiency and public discontent with education 
funding, the General Assembly in 2014 established a bipartisan commission 
made of key legislators and executive branch officials to recommend a new 
funding formula. It is not yet clear whether or to what degree the commis-
sion’s formula will guide future funding, but its work has generally been well 
received by education stakeholders, and it was endorsed by the legislature at 
one stage in budget deliberations in 2015. 

Marguerite Roza and Amanda Warco assess the commission’s work 
against the standard of a student-based allocation method for Pennsylvania 
districts. In short, Roza and Warco’s method would require that all funding 
follow the student, and schools would receive the funds dedicated to that stu-
dent only after an accurate assessment of need. 

In another article dealing with a critical education policy issue in Penn-
sylvania and across the country, Adam McGlynn looks at the implementation 
of the Keystone Exams as a graduation requirement for high school and finds 
that race, socioeconomic status, and a school’s English Language Learner and 
special education populations drive performance. The imposition of a two-
year moratorium on the requirement will provide time for state officials and 
the legislature to reassess its testing policies. One policy prescription to which 
McGlynn refers is a predictable funding system according to need.

 William T. Hartman continues the exploration of the role of special edu-
cation funding through what he calls “a policy of neglect.” His investigation 
includes enrollment trends in public and charter schools, expenditures, fund-
ing from all levels of government, the fiscal impacts on school districts, and 
the explicit and implicit public policies in Pennsylvania surrounding special 
education funding.



An Introduction to the Special Issue on Education Policy  5

For those looking for further reading on this important topic, Meghan 
E. Rubado’s annotated bibliography provides an index to timely and relevant 
research on the subject of public education, some of which has clearly influ-
enced the course of the policy debate in the Commonwealth. This resource 
includes the themes of public finance, fairness, governance, economic devel-
opment, testing, and lessons from other nations.




