Jan 31, 2020, Indiana (PA) Penn: School officials from across Pennsylvania push for state to address special education, charter school funding https://www.thepenn.org/news/state/school-officials-from-across-pennsylvania-push-for-state-to-address/article_9537c003-ddd3-5346-ad9b-c805c8303171.html State school districts are struggling because of increases in special education and charter school costs, a group of school business professionals and superintendents said at a news conference Friday. The Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (PASBO) and the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators (PASA) released a report Friday on the financial health of the commonwealth’s 500 school districts. State officials begin the budgeting process for the 2020-21 fiscal year next week. Much of that cost burden has been placed on local taxpayers as partial reimbursement for charter school tuitions ended in 2011 and increased state funding has not kept up with growth, the group said. The increase in special education funding is due to increased enrollment and the need for other services. The state’s special education spending increased by $1.2 billion during that five-year period, Diane Richards of the Governor Mifflin School District in Berks County said. …
