What will the new PA budget mean for Bucks County’s 5 ‘underfunded’ school districts?

Pennsylvania’s new budget includes renewed resources for schools deemed to be experiencing a funding gap.

Five Bucks County districts deemed underfunded are receiving the extra money again this year, and other Bucks districts are receiving a flat additional $50,000.

What is the adequacy gap in PA?

A Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court judge ruled in 2023 that the state’s property tax-based public school funding system was unconstitutional because it deprived children in poorer areas of a “thorough and efficient” education compared to wealthier districts.

In 2024, members of a bipartisan commission released a report that put the total gap in state money to the underfunded districts at $5.4 billion. They proposed closing that gap over several years.

Last year’s state budget included about $500 million toward that goal, and the 2025–2026 budget includes a similar funding level for this year.

Members of the state commission had identified 348 districts as underfunded, including five Bucks County school districts. They considered factors such as the proportion of students who live in poverty or are learning English, and the costs that public schools continue to pay for charter school students who have left the district.

The most underfunded districts in the state included Philadelphia and a number of central Pennsylvania districts, according to education advocacy group Research for Action.

State officials also provided extra funding to districts that pay high school property taxes compared to local property value and incomes. Only Bristol Township qualified for that money among Bucks County districts.

Which Bucks schools receive adequacy gap funds?

Five Bucks County school districts qualify for the gap money. State officials have said they planned to close the gap over nine years.

The 2025–2026 budget also includes $50,000 to each Bucks County school district that doesn’t qualify for the gap funding under the same grant, known as the Ready to Learn Block Grant.

• Bensalem: The district is owed approximately $16.1 million over nine years, according to the state adequacy formula.
• Bristol Borough: Bristol Borough’s school district is short approximately $2.33 million from the state, according to the formula, which Pennsylvania is set to repay over nine years.
• Bristol Township: Bucks County’s most underfunded district, according to the state’s new formula, is owed approximately $16.87 million over nine years. It’s also the only Bucks district to qualify for tax relief, an estimated $488,000.
• Neshaminy: As the Bucks County district with the smallest gap, Neshaminy is owed a total of $275,873, which works out to approximately $30,000 annually over nine years. This year, the district is receiving the higher amount — $50,000 — that other districts are getting by default.
• Pennridge: This Upper Bucks district is owed $820,641 over nine years, according to the state’s formula.

This lower-income Bucks school didn’t make the list

Morrisville Borough School District, one of Bucks County’s poorest districts, didn’t qualify for the funding gap money last year.

State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, D-Yardley, who represents district residents, said he hasn’t received a clear answer on why Morrisville doesn’t qualify, but he suspects it’s because the district shares a ZIP code with wealthier Yardley, which is part of Pennsbury School District.

“I struggle to understand why Morrisville gets on average $3 million less per year than similarly situated school districts,” Santarsiero said.

Like all other Bucks districts, Morrisville is receiving $50,000 this year in the new budget.

Morrisville’s superintendent recently said district officials would have to close their schools in January if state lawmakers didn’t pass a funding bill soon.