The William Penn School District is one of the plaintiffs in a landmark lawsuit alleging that Pennsylvania’s new school-funding formula has failed to fix the disparity between wealthy and poor public school districts, writes Maddie Hanna for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The lawsuit, originally filed four years ago against the Pennsylvania Department of Education, was reinstated by the state Supreme Court last year. It alleges that the system discriminates against children based on their residence, as lower-wealth communities are not able to keep up with the rising costs.

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The new filing, submitted last Friday by the Education Law Center and the Public Interest Law Center, says that the spending gap between districts has actually increased. It also says that the formula has failed to pump money into schools, as the state funding for classroom costs has decreased over the last five years due to district pension expenses rising faster than state aid.

“Our client districts have some of the highest tax rates in the state and are struggling to provide the most basic resources,” said Michael Churchill, a lawyer with the Public Interest Law Center.

Read more about the case in the Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.