Pennsylvania Bucks Tide on Funding Squeeze

Hike in budget for K-12 coincides with overhaul in state-funding formula.

Bucking pressure from a downturn in the nation’s economy that has chilled school spending in a number of states, Pennsylvania is forging ahead with its largest K-12 education increase in at least two decades.

The $9.6 billion for elementary and secondary education in the fiscal year that began July 1 includes a 5.5 percent hike in basic funds for schools. Even more important, say state education officials and advocacy organizations, is a new law aimed at assuring more funding equity between school districts.

Under the new formula, some districts this year could receive as much as a 20 percent increase in funding, said Gerald L. Zahorchak, Pennsylvania’s secretary of education, in a telephone interview last week. The law assures that no school district will get less than...