History

Good Schools Pennsylvania was launched in 2001 to remedy the fact that educational opportunity across the Commonwealth was unequal due to an inequitable state funding mechanism. Our conviction is and was that the knowledge exists to create a public education system in which all children can succeed at high levels, including students with whom we have historically failed.

While neighboring states like Maryland and New York made progress challenging similarly unequal funding formulas through their courts, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court rejected the lawsuits brought before it and placed the responsibility of remedying the situation in the hands of the General Assembly.

In order to improve educational opportunity for all of Pennsylvania’s students and schools, Good Schools Pennsylvania joined with the Public Education Network, the National Council of Churches, and the Children’s Defense Fund to launch a grassroots campaign to build a statewide consensus for the need to increase the funding and quality of public schools in Pennsylvania, and to hold the state accountable for improving the way Pennsylvania funds and supports public education.

Vital to the establishment of Good Schools Pennsylvania was the original founding council. The founding council was comprised of representatives from organizations that had made significant commitments to mobilize their constituencies to become advocates for improved public education in Pennsylvania.

With generous funding from several foundations, Good Schools Pennsylvania hired organizers in critical regions of the state to mobilize citizens of all ages to become engaged in the movement for school funding and education reform. Among the constituents who have stood with us are students and retirees, clergy and lay leaders, parents and teachers, school board members and superintendents, and business and civic leaders. Everyone has a stake in making high quality public education accessible to all.