Lawmakers should take action to address a judge's ruling that PA's system of funding public schools violates the constitutional rights of students in poorer school districts now that the decision won't be appealed, the districts and groups that sued said.
The lawsuit, filed in 2014, argued that Pennsylvania’s system of paying for public schools is failing the poorest districts and lawyers for the plaintiffs contend that billions more dollars are necessary to meet the state's constitutional obligation.Sign up for NBC Philadelphia newsletters.
While the judge agreed, she also did not direct the Legislature on how much state aid to distribute, or how. Lawyers for the plaintiffs — including six school districts, the NAACP and the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools — want lawmakers to comply with the judge's ruling. “The decision is now final and there is no excuse for state lawmakers to delay action any further,” the plaintiffs' lawyers — from the Public Interest Law Center, the Education Law Center and the law firm of O’Melveny — said in a statement.
Leaders of the House and Senate Republicans in Pennsylvania had opposed the lawsuit. They hadn’t previously said whether they would appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court and did not immediately comment Monday.
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