In statehouse and schools, Pa. faces hard issues Legislators grappled with charter schools.
Teachers try new ways to get pupils to learn.
The equity issue goes to the question of what's fair, when the poorest districts spend on their students only about half the sum laid out by the wealthiest districts. At the same time, taxpayers in many districts are clamoring for relief from ever-rising property taxes, which remain the main means of funding schools in Pennsylvania. The governor's second major initiative, charter schools, won approval in June, and the state's first charter schools, including four in Philadelphia and one in Chester County, scrambled to open this fall. Meanwhile, school officials are reviewing the state's new academic standards to see how well they mesh with their schools' curricula. And while debate over charter schools and vouchers has died down, the controversy over how the schools are financed has only just begun, if the experience of other states, including New Jersey, is any indication.