Since the 2007-08 school year, West Mifflin School District has been educating students from the City of Duquesne who would otherwise attend high school in Duquesne, were there still a high school there (a few years later, 7th and 8th graders joined in the arrangement). The terms of that deal were spelled out in state legislation, as was the payment arrangement for West Mifflin. After trying to resolve issues over funding via negotiation, West Mifflin filed a lawsuit in May of last year.
That lawsuit was decided yesterday by the Commonwealth Court. In short, the court stated that the proper place for a remedy is with the state Department of Education, not the courts. Though there were six counts alleged by West Mifflin, this blog will look at the argument over per-pupil reimbursement.
The law established that for a school district of the third class with a board of control that eliminated its high school, the Secretary of Education would “establish the per-pupil tuition rate that a school district…shall receive for each reassigned student in a regular or special education program”. From 2012-13 forward that rate was the greater of $10,000 or the product of the prior year tuition and the greater of the percentage increase in total budgeted revenues available to a distressed school district or the Act 1 index. In other words, the court opined, it is not Duquesne that is determining the payment, but the Secretary. West Mifflin, in this part of the lawsuit, argued that the Secretary did not follow the second part of the formula, “… using the greater of either Duquesne’s total budgeted revenue percentage increase or the Taxpayer Relief Act Index when calculating Duquesne’s tuition rates.” On this part, the courts pointed to the Administrative Agency Law as a remedy to challenge the tuition determination.
“West Mifflin’s real claim lies with the amount of tuition it receives for Duquesne students. This is a matter that must be addressed to the Secretary and, thus, Count I must be dismissed as to Duquesne” wrote the Court. So it appears that the next step for West Mifflin in this dispute is to take up the matter with the Department of Education.
