The financial situation of the Pittsburgh Public School District is dire. For the second time in four years, the school board is considering a property tax increase to address the district’s structural deficit. This is despite the fact that PPS already receives more than its fair share of state education funding.

The district’s financial struggles are being compounded by the withholding of that state funding due to the budget impasse in Harrisburg. To conserve its reserve funds, PPS has suspended all “non-essential spending,” which includes even using copy paper to print elementary school homework assignments. Students as young as first and second grade are being asked to complete their assignments online.

This is all taking place in the context of a controversial and badly mismanaged ri

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