The decision, which comes almost a year after the trial ended and almost ten years after advocacy groups, a number of parents, and six school districts initially brought the lawsuit, orders lawmakers and the governor’s office to make sure that Pennsylvania’s schools give all students an education that complies with constitutional requirements. 

Pennsylvania’s low-wealth and high-wealth districts were shown to have “manifest deficiencies” in the trial, and the wealthier and poorer districts had significant achievement gaps in the test results. The plaintiffs’ attorneys argue that the state should spend more money on schools rather than redistribute existing funds, despite calls from advocates to use a formula to funnel more money through. Penn state teachers’ professors said Pennsylvania needed to spend more money, about $4.6 billion to fund the schools.