PRINTER'S NO. 2783
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
350
Session of
2024
INTRODUCED BY FRIEL, DONAHUE, GIRAL, PIELLI, HILL-EVANS,
N. NELSON, WEBSTER, SCHLOSSBERG, SANCHEZ, CEPEDA-FREYTIZ AND
HADDOCK, MARCH 25, 2024
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON FINANCE, MARCH 25, 2024
A RESOLUTION
Directing the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to
conduct a comprehensive study of the financial impacts of
pooling all school district property tax revenue at the
intermediate unit level and distributing that money to school
districts based on their average daily membership.
WHEREAS, Public school districts in this Commonwealth have
been inadequately and inequitably funded due in part to heavy
reliance on local property taxes; and
WHEREAS, Recently, the Commonwealth Court confirmed the
unconstitutionality of current public education funding and
ordered the General Assembly to fulfill its obligation to
provide for a thorough and efficient public education system;
and
WHEREAS, One alternative method to do this is through pooling
school district property tax revenue at the intermediate unit
level; and
WHEREAS, Collecting and analyzing these revenue numbers will
help to construct a targeted approach to determine school
district funding disparities from a regional perspective;
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therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives direct the
Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a
comprehensive study of the financial impacts of pooling all
school district property tax revenue at the intermediate unit
level and distributing that money to school districts based on
their average daily membership; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the study:
(1) collect data on every school district's property tax
revenue;
(2) calculate and provide the mean and median effective
property tax rate at the county level, intermediate unit
level and Statewide;
(3) provide a school district level variance of tax
effort and tax revenue from the mean and the median;
(4) determine how much revenue would be collected within
each intermediate unit if school district revenue were pooled
at the intermediate unit level;
(5) determine the funding difference by school district
if the pooled property tax revenue were distributed
proportionately based on average daily membership of each
school district in relation to the total average daily
membership of the intermediate unit; and
(6) evaluate the ways in which pooling and distributing
school property tax revenue at the intermediate level does or
does not make public education funding more equitable to meet
our constitutional obligation to fairly fund public schools;
and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee,
within one year of the adoption of this resolution, issue a
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report with findings and recommendations to the General Assembly
and post the report on the publicly accessible Internet website
of the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee.
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