School Related Activities

The Pennsylvania Economy League is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that for more than 70 years has been helping state and local government officials meet the increasingly complex demands placed upon them. PEL has a long tradition of involvement in matters relating to public school planning, management, and finance. In terms of the broad issues, PEL helped to develop Pennsylvania’s first major school subsidy revision (by serving as the staff of the Lawrence Commission) and similarly assisted the Scranton Commission on School Finances in significantly modernizing the plan. Subsequently, PEL reviewed and analyzed various subsidy proposals at the request of the Governor, the Legislature, and the Department of Education. PEL has also been involved in tax reform efforts over the years; was very active in the movement to reorganize school districts during the 1960s and prior; and in 1981 was commissioned by the State Senate to assess the administrative, operating, and financial impact of 30 state and federal mandates on school districts. In 1996 PEL completed a similar analysis focusing on school districts in southeastern Pennsylvania.

More recently PEL developed the content for the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s School Finance 101 website. PEL’s role was to produce a primer highlighting the key issues associated with the financial operations of public school districts in Pennsylvania with a view to identifying how districts generate their financial resources and the purposes for which they are used. The website is designed to help citizens and decision-makers better understand the key concepts of public school finance in the Commonwealth.

With respect to individual school districts, PEL has undertaken more than 150 comprehensive analyses of demographic, community growth, and enrollment patterns resulting in long-range enrollment projections. PEL has also examined districts’ building utilization patterns; assisted districts in reducing tax collection costs and in making tax collection efforts more effective; aided in personnel matters ranging from developing job classification and pay plans to helping districts prepare for fact finding involving organized employees; and reviewed school districts’ operations and various aspects of their finances to provide blueprints for short- and long-term financial and operational decision-making.

The common theme of all of PEL’s work is to provide facts and objective analyses to public officials and the general public so that sound public policy decisions can result. As an independent nonprofit organization, PEL has been widely recognized as being free of partisan considerations, vested interests, profit motivation, or other factors that can often be perceived as clouding government decision-making.

Enrollment Trends and Projections
Analysis of Tax Trends and Potential Yields
Examinations of Tax Collection Policies, Procedures, and Costs
Personnel Related Studies
Other Projects

Outline of a School District Enrollment Projections Study