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| Today: Tax equity, election map, Senate stocks, undisclosed info, Sturla's seat, new teachers, and river rescues. Thanks for checking in. |
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Pennsylvania's new budget includes $32 million for 50 Pennsylvania school districts with high property tax burdens, an effort to stave off further hikes.
Spotlight PA's Kate Huangpu reports:
The supplements, which range from $50,000 to $5 million, target districts with high local taxes compared to the wealth of their residents. Many are in Allegheny County or the Philadelphia collar counties.
State law directs school boards to use the money to mitigate or prevent property tax increases, supplement tax reduction programs, or reduce debt.
The funding is part of a larger legislative effort to respond to a Commonwealth Court ruling that found Pennsylvania’s public school funding system to be unconstitutionally inequitable. Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg, a Public Interest Law Center attorney involved in that case, said he sees the tax equity supplement as a logical next step to create a fairer system.
Cosmas Curry, superintendent of Stroudsburg Area School District, which is set to receive a nearly $2.5 million supplement, the second-largest in the commonwealth, said: "Anything we can give back — even 50 bucks, 100 bucks — is a start. And if this money comes in annually like we hope it's going to, it’s going to make a big difference for families."
Read Spotlight PA's full report: These 50 Pa. school districts are getting extra money because of their high tax burdens. |
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NOTABLE / QUOTABLE
"We’re forced back into these systems that are no longer working for us. It feels like it’s taking a step backwards."
—Ashley DiDonato on the family life implications of return-to-office orders impacting Philadelphia city workers like her husband |
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| A game preserve in Lehigh County with an experimental American chestnut nursery in the distance, via Joe M. Send us your photos by email, use #PAGems on Instagram, or tag us @spotlightpennsylvania. |
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PEOPLE POWER: Join us Thursday, Aug. 22, from 6-7 p.m. for a free panel on why local government struggles to attract and retain talent. Register here and submit questions to events@spotlightpa.org.
BERKS BUREAU: Join Spotlight PA at 6 p.m. on Aug. 28 for a Zoom session on our plans for a Berks County reporting bureau. Register here. |
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 PRESIDENTIAL ROADMAP: The Philadelphia Inquirer (paywall) divided Pennsylvania into five kinds of places — rural, suburban, white working-class urban, white college-educated urban, and non-white urban — to see what it will take to win the state this fall: Suburbs and prosperous urban areas keep banking more votes for Democrats, and rural areas and deep inner cities are turning in the opposite direction. • RFK Jr. disqualified from New York ballot, via CBS News. • These PA voters illustrate Harris’ suburban challenge, via CNN. • Trump again says he'll return to Butler for rally, via KDKA-TV.  STOCK SCRUTINY: Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey’s campaign is seizing on the $1.7 million invested in a Chinese fentanyl manufacturer by a hedge fund helmed by his GOP challenger, Dave McCormick, as both men make the drug epidemic a focal point of the race. The Inquirer (paywall) reports Casey has a "very small amount of stock" in the same company through an account he doesn't directly control.
 APPARENT CONFLICT: A former Dauphin County commissioner green-lit millions of taxpayer dollars for a local tourism agency without disclosing that his wife was on its payroll, PennLive (paywall) reports. A county spokesperson said the other commissioners didn't know about the connection either. The former commissioner in question, Jeff Haste, says an attorney told him he did nothing wrong. STURLA'S OUT: Democrats are racing to find a state House candidate to replace Lancaster County Democrat Mike Sturla, who withdrew his reelection bid weeks before the state's Aug. 22 nomination deadline, LNP reports, via sister site WITF. Sturla said he stuck around to push for an education funding hike and announced his exit on the heels of this year's budget deal securing a related $1.1 billion increase.  NEW HIRES: Pennsylvania's largest school district welcomed 800 new hires last week amid a lingering, statewide teacher shortage, per WHYY. The School District of Philadelphia says that brings it to 95% staffed. But University of Pennsylvania researcher Richard Ingersoll told Education Week that finding enough new teachers isn't the problem: It's keeping them that continues to prove so difficult. |
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DOG DROP: Six puppies were abandoned at a Bucks County dog park with a note reading: "This is the safest place I could think of to put them."
OPEN CALL: If you've been sitting on the perfect Pittsburgh story, now's the time to share it for a chance to win money to report it out.
MASCOT CRITICS: A Lehigh Valley high school's historic train-themed mascot is being called a "train wreck" by some.
WATER FOUL: Riverkeeper Ted Evgeniadis, in a PennLive op-ed, warns plans to stem Harrisburg sewage flows into the Susquehanna aren't enough.
WATER FOUL II: TribLIVE reports tons of car parts, bikes, and a mattress were pulled from the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh in a matter of hours. |
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Unscramble and send your answer to scrambler@spotlightpa.org. We'll shout out winners here, and one each week will get some Spotlight PA swag. Answers submitted by 5:30 p.m. on issue date will be counted. Please include your first name and last initial. N T R A L D E L E H
Yesterday's answer: Dachshund
Congrats to our daily winners: Eric F., Bob C., Karen W., Jane R., Jeff F., Stacy S., Don H., Barbara F., Kimberly D., Daniel M., Ted W., Beth H., Timothy A., Richard A., Wendy A., Louie C., Kathy M., Elaine C., Perry H., Joel S., Annette I., Lissa C., Dennis M., Jeffrey F., Tom M., William Z., Natalie B., Julie K., Jill C., and Susan N.-Z. |
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