Pennsylvania Districts Challenge Mandate for School-Tax Rebates

Pennsylvania school districts have gone to court to contest new state rules requiring them to provide school-tax rebates to taxpayers.

The tax-rebate requirement stems from a lengthy deadlock in the legislature that delayed approval of a state budget more than a month into the new fiscal year. The budget finally approved provides for major increases in state aid for schools, an additional $20 million for low-wealth school districts, and the largest tax increase in the state's history.

The budget was passed weeks after local districts already had set their spending plans for the year. Hoping to soften the political impact of their massive tax hike, lawmakers required districts to reopen their budgets and make rebates to taxpayers with any additional, unanticipated funds coming to them...