The Racial Significance of Pennsylvania's K-12 Public Education Funding Scheme: An Afrocentric Analysis

Abstract

The issue of public education has long been studied and continues to stymie communities as they diligently attempt to create effective educational opportunities. This Afrocentric study aims to help students, parents, educators, advocates, legislators and everyone concerned about the future of public education to think differently about how it is funded. This work essentially is an Afrocentric legal analysis of the law that governs the funding of K-12 public education in Pennsylvania. Employing an Afrocentric methodology, this study examines the racial significance of Pennsylvania's K-12 public education funding scheme. Specifically, it examines the extent to which, although race neutral on its face, the funding scheme employs other proxies for racism that reduce African agency and perpetuate the oppression of African Americans. Because Philadelphia is the state's largest predominantly African-American school district, it is a useful case study for examining the racial significance of the funding scheme.