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Pittsburgh Public Schools faces the sunset of federal relief funds and contends with half-empty schools. Individual school budgets suggest that some smaller schools may face budget scrutiny.
High schools with fewer students in Pittsburgh Public Schools [PPS] cost the district more per child, though they’ve seen less funding increases than their larger counterparts in the last three years.
Uneven Scales
As PPS contends with a difficult budget season, PublicSource explores the balance of resources and its effects on students’ futures.
For instance, Carrick High School, which enrolled 660 students, clocked in during the 2020-21 school year — the last for which full data is available — at $28,909, in budgeted funds per student, while Brashear High School, with about 1,180 students was allocated $27,367.
Schools with fewer students have higher overhead costs, such as staff salaries and building maintenance, resulting in more investments per student. However, a higher investment per student does not necessarily reflect improved student outcomes or more resources in those schools.
As student enrollment in PPS keeps dwindling, the district will have to grapple with some difficult financial choices in the next couple of years.
The district has projected a growing operating deficit when the $100.2 million in federal pandemic relief funding expires next September. The loss of those Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief [ESSER] funds could lead to downsizing of staff or cutting down certain education programming in schools, adversely affecting low-achieving schools in the district.
Read more: Want to enroll your child in an after-school program? Here’s what you should know.
Currently, PPS has a surplus seating capacity of over 19,000 students in their buildings, more than the number of students in the district. Twenty-seven school buildings in PPS are less than half full. School board candidates have said that any conversations about school closures need to involve the entire community.
In advance of the board’s annual budget discussion, PublicSource analyzed the district’s school-based budgets for the last three years.
Smaller schools are more expensive but have fewer resources
Larger schools are less expensive on a per-pupil basis. Allderdice High School, which has nearly triple the budget of its smaller counterpart Perry High School, received less money per pupil.
Data from the state Department of Education show that Perry enrolled about 365 students in 2020-21, with 80% of its student population being low-income and 31% of students having an Individualized Education Plan [IEP]. At Allderdice, student enrollment was 1,430 and 39% of students were economically disadvantaged and 12% had an IEP.
Department of Education data also show that Perry received about $28,840 per pupil in 2021 — nearly $900 more than the per-pupil funding allocated to Allderdice.
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