PHILADELPHIA – The City of Philadelphia today filed a “friend of the court” brief in support of an ongoing lawsuit against state officials over the Commonwealth’s broken system of school funding.
The “Amicus Curiae” brief was filed before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court by Acting City Solicitor Sozi Pedro Tulante. In the filing, the City demonstrates that the General Assembly’s funding fails to support those school districts most in need, including the Philadelphia School District.
“The degree to which the School District is being underfunded by the state is even worse than the numbers suggest because of the District’s high percentage of needy students,” Solicitor Tulante said. “Only this Court’s intervention can provide Philadelphia’s children with the education funding they deserve from the state.”
The brief comes in support of a lawsuit filed in late 2014 by the Public Interest Law Center and the Education Law Center-PA on behalf of six school districts and seven parents, along with the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools (PARSS) and the NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference.
“The harm to Philadelphia’s children described by the city’s brief is being repeated throughout the Commonwealth in districts large and small, rural, suburban and urban,” said Jennifer Clarke, Executive Director of the Public Interest Law Center. “We are grateful to the City for bringing these facts to the Court.”
The petitioners are asking the high court to send the case to a full trial and allow them to present evidence that the state legislature has violated its constitutional requirement to provide a “thorough and efficient system of public education” and to prohibit discrimination in state programs and services.
The city’s brief supports those arguments. It specifically points out that the General Assembly’s funding scheme barely addresses the wide funding disparities among school districts across the Commonwealth. It demonstrates that providing a basic education in Philadelphia is a far more expensive challenge because children in the city face profound challenges before they even arrive at school. The brief urges the Supreme Court to return the case to Commonwealth Court.
Solicitor Tulante says this filing is the first instance of the Law Department’s new effort to file amicus briefs in cases where the City’s public policy is implicated. “I believe such filings are a vital tool in representing the interests of all Philadelphians in matters that come before the courts.”