Chapter 40: Pennsylvania

The education clause of the Pennsylvania constitution declares “the General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth.”¹ This system of public education in Pennsylvania was formally established in the 1830s through passage of the Common School Fund Act of 1831 and the Free Schools Act of 1834. The Act of 1831 established the first common school fund, with a revenue source directed from the sale of unpatented lands and fees collected from the land office. However, the Act of 1834 formally established a system of public schools throughout the Commonwealth by requiring counties to form school divisions which were made up of the school districts from every ward, township and borough in the several counties. The Act also provided for distribution of state support to fund common schools, providing funds to any county that voted affirmatively to impose a county school tax of not less than twice the amount received from the state. Funding distribution under the Act was calculated using the number of taxable inhabitants in the county. Disbursements went to the counties, which then distributed funds to the school districts. According to Walsh, while the law fixed the appropriation to one dollar for each taxable inhabitant, the General Assembly did not meet this requirement and from 1845 to 1872 the actual amount distributed varied between 38¢ in 1865 and 62¢ in 1872.²