Delaware County state legislators and education advocates are promising to press for quick action to bring fairness to the state’s school funding system on the heels of a Commonwealth Court ruling last week declaring Pennsylvania’s system unconstitutional, writes Kathleen E. Carey for the Daily Times.

The ruling followed a lawsuit filed by William Penn School District and other plaintiffs challenging the state’s uneven school funding system.

Maura McInerney of the Education Law Center said the ruling requires Republicans and Democrats to create a constitutionally-compliant plan that fixes a disparity as wide as $8,000 per student between districts.

Trial testimony described some districts with kindergarten classes of 30 or more students, deteriorating facilities, no libraries; teachers teaching two classes at once; two reading specialists for 1,200 students; and one bathroom for 75 kindergarteners.

Shirlee Howe, education coordinator for Montgomery and Delaware counties for Children First, said advocates will be lobbying the state legislature this budget season to put a “big down payment” on the $4 billion needed to bridge the adequacy gap in Pennsylvania’s school funding system.

“Last Tuesday’s Commonwealth Court ruling could finally be the game changer Pennsylvania students deserve,” Howe said.

Read more about reaction to last week’s court ruling in the Daily Times.