Letter to the editor: All students deserve an excellent education

In his op-ed ”Now’s the time to tackle the charter vs. public school problem” (Jan. 17, TribLIVE), Isaiah Trumbull blamed charter schools for the Pittsburgh School District’s (PPS) poor performance. Unfortunately, his op-ed is full of misinformation.

Far from “underfunded,” PPS receives $27,700 per student, about $12,000 more than the national average. Moreover, the district has amassed $133 million in reserve funds.

Despite yearly funding increases, district enrollment is down 24% since 2012, while staffing grew 10%.

More dollars didn’t lead to better academic achievement, either. Statewide test results show around 94% of its eighth-graders not proficient in math and 67% not proficient in English. Isaiah and his fellow PPS students deserve better.

Meanwhile, public charter schools must attract students and get less funding than PPS, around 25% less on average. Even he notes charters serve approximately 21% of the kids in Pittsburgh, but only receive 17% of the funding.

PPS spent over $500,000 on contract lobbyists and tens of thousands annually on associations like the Pennsylvania School Boards Association that lobby to close charter schools. Instead of attacking other public schools and lobbying to take choices away from families, we should ask why families are leaving PPS, and focus on how to give all students an excellent education.

Elizabeth Stelle

Harrisburg

The writer is director of policy analysis for the Commonwealth Foundation.