Student mental health, inadequate funding top public school concerns

Costs for charter school tuition, special education, and employee pensions have significantly outpaced state funding over the last decade.
Staffing shortages are widespread. Substitute teachers, special education teachers and bus drivers are among top needs.
Academic concerns include the achievement gap between high- and low-poverty districts and the lingering effects of learning loss during the pandemic.

Student mental health issues, inadequate funding and staffing shortages are top challenges facing Pennsylvania public schools.

That’s according to the 2025 State of Education report released by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association on Monday. The report is based on survey responses from top administrators in 256 of the state’s 500 public school districts and on state and federal education data.

The report also highlights the impact of some of the costliest requirements placed on schools — for charter school tuition, special education and employee pensions, said Andy Christ, the report’s author and senior director of education policy for PSBA.

In the last decade, costs for those three things alone increased almost $6.1 billion. State funding intended to help pay those costs increased by less than $2.1 billion — leaving a “mandated cost gap” of slightly more than $4 billion, Christ said.

“When state and federal revenues fail to keep pace with the increasing cost of those mandates, school districts are left to make up the difference locally, either by raising local taxes, making cuts to school district programs and services, or postponing renovations or other projects,” Christ said.

Table of Contents

Student mental health

Four students in 10, on average, are coping with some degree of mental health issues, and those issues aren’t being addressed because of a scarcity of mental health providers and inadequate funding for services, school leaders said.

More than 62% of top administrators identified student mental health issues as the biggest challenge facing Pennsylvania public schools. And those issues are the largest obstacle to student learning, they said.

Please enable Javascript to view this content.

Budget pressures

For the sixth straight year, tuition paid solely by local school districts for students attending charter schools topped school leaders’ list of the biggest pressures on district budgets:

Charter school tuition, up by almost $1.4 billion in the last 13 years and increasing faster than charter school enrollment;
Special education costs, up by 86%, or by almost $1.5 billion, since 2012-13, while state and federal funding for special education increased by just 10%, or $287 million;
Employee pension costs, up by more than $3.2 billion over the same time, while government funding increased by less than $1.8 billion.

The Erie School District in 2023-24 spent almost $10.2 million just for cyber charter school tuition. That doesn’t include tuition for Erie students attending brick-and-mortar charter schools.

Staffing shortages

Substitute teachers remain in short supply, with almost 82% of Pennsylvania school districts reporting that they need more substitutes.

Full- and part-time staff are also scarce. School districts began this school year with 2,500 open teaching positions, according to the State of Education report.

Major needs include:

Special education teachers and staff, in 65% of districts;
Instructional aides, in 60% of districts;
Transportation staff, in 56% of districts;
Regular education teachers, in 37% of districts.

More concerns: Academics and facilities

Three-quarters of public school districts responding to the State of Education survey said that they have at least one school in need of major repairs or replacement, paid largely from district budgets and borrowing.

Many districts are working their way through significant building needs. In Erie County, the Millcreek Township School District assessed facility needs in 2018 and began borrowing money through a series of bond issues to pay for work at each of the district’s 11 school buildings, including the former Ridgefield Elementary School. Work began in 2020 and includes a three-year, $3.5 million McDowell High School renovation begun last summer.

Other districts are postponing facility needs. Almost 44% of school districts surveyed for the State of Education report indicated that they will delay needed maintenance and renovations due to lack of funds.

The 2025 State of Education report also outlines academic concerns, including the continuing student achievement gap between high- and low-poverty districts and a lingering effect of lost learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

‘Meaningful discussions’ on the issues

The State of Education report provides comprehensive information on some of the biggest issues currently facing public education, Christ said.

“By presenting that information in one place, policymakers, public school leaders and advocates can have meaningful discussions on those issues based on the report,” he said.

Almost 90% of the state’s school-aged children, or about 1.7 million children, attend public schools in Pennsylvania. Statewide, that enrollment number is down 5.8% over the last decade, although in some school districts, especially suburban school districts, enrollment has grown by as much as 25%.

Contact Valerie Myers at [email protected].

link