HR 170 — 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.

PRINTER'S NO.    1243

                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



              HOUSE RESOLUTION
                 No. 170
                                                 Session of
                                                   2025

     INTRODUCED BY FRIEL, SANCHEZ, HILL-EVANS, GIRAL, BURGOS,
        KENYATTA, DONAHUE, STEELE, NEILSON, GREEN, MADDEN, CEPEDA-
        FREYTIZ AND WEBSTER, APRIL 3, 2025

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, APRIL 3, 2025


                                  A RESOLUTION
 1   Directing the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to
 2      conduct a comprehensive study of the financial impacts of
 3      pooling all school district property tax revenue at the
 4      intermediate unit level and distributing that money to school
 5      districts based on their average daily membership.
 6         WHEREAS, Public school districts in this Commonwealth have
 7   been inadequately and inequitably funded due in part to heavy
 8   reliance on local property taxes; and
 9         WHEREAS, Recently, the Commonwealth Court confirmed the
10   unconstitutionality of current public education funding and
11   ordered the General Assembly to fulfill its obligation to
12   provide for a thorough and efficient public education system;
13   and
14         WHEREAS, One alternative method to do this is through pooling
15   school district property tax revenue at the intermediate unit
16   level; and
17         WHEREAS, Collecting and analyzing these revenue numbers will
18   help to construct a targeted approach to determine school
19   district funding disparities from a regional perspective;
 1   therefore be it
 2      RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives direct the
 3   Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a
 4   comprehensive study of the financial impacts of pooling all
 5   school district property tax revenue at the intermediate unit
 6   level and distributing that money to school districts based on
 7   their average daily membership; and be it further
 8      RESOLVED, That the study:
 9          (1)    collect data on every school district's property tax
10      revenue;
11          (2)    calculate and provide the mean and median effective
12      property tax rate at the county level, intermediate unit
13      level and Statewide;
14          (3)    provide a school district level variance of tax
15      effort and tax revenue from the mean and the median;
16          (4)    determine how much revenue would be collected within
17      each intermediate unit if school district revenue were pooled
18      at the intermediate unit level;
19          (5)    determine the funding difference by school district
20      if the pooled property tax revenue were distributed
21      proportionately based on average daily membership of each
22      school district in relation to the total average daily
23      membership of the intermediate unit; and
24          (6)    evaluate the ways in which pooling and distributing
25      school property tax revenue at the intermediate level does or
26      does not make public education funding more equitable to meet
27      our constitutional obligation to fairly fund public schools;
28   and be it further
29      RESOLVED, That the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee,
30   within one year of the adoption of this resolution, issue a

20250HR0170PN1243                   - 2 -
1   report with findings and recommendations to the General Assembly
2   and post the report on the publicly accessible Internet website
3   of the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee.




20250HR0170PN1243                - 3 -