Advocacy for Child-serving Systems

By 2035, increase public funding in child-serving systems (early childhood education, early intervention, K-12 education, home visiting, out-of-school time) by $6.4 billion.

For Philadelphia’s young children to succeed, it’s essential to adequately and equitably fund the schools, early learning centers, and other public systems that serve them and their families.

Sufficient, sustainable funding means students can receive the educational opportunities, instructional support, and enrichment experiences that lead to better long-term outcomes such as high school completion, career and college readiness, and economic mobility.

A landmark 2023 court ruling, which declared the Pennsylvania school funding system unconstitutional, has helped build momentum for this work. However, $5.4 billion in additional funding is needed to help all schools across the state provide students with the opportunities they need and deserve.¹ And the needs are not limited to K-12 education. More than half of Pennsylvania’s children who are eligible for free high-quality pre-k do not have access.² And only 7% of Pennsylvania’s children under age 6 living in low-income families are being served by evidence-based home visiting programs that improve outcomes.³

Given these facts, we are seeking to increase public funding in child-serving systems, so more children can thrive.

In advancing this objective, we recognize that there are many ways that organizations and communities can help to increase public funding. Possible efforts may include support for organizations that illuminate these issues and advocate for state policies and annual appropriations that address inequities and provide resources for early learning, K-12 public schools, out of school time learning, early intervention, and home visiting programs. We seek to support projects and programs in Pennsylvania that organizations believe will be most effective in making progress on the objective above.

We measure progress toward this objective by tracking state funding for these programs.

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