Paul Vandy, 17, always knew his school, Penn Wood High in the Philadelphia suburbs, wasn鈥檛 the cleanest or the most modern.
But it wasn鈥檛 until the current senior visited a nearby school in the suburban Lower Merion district for a speech and debate competition that he realized just how big education disparities can be. He walked into the building and was awestruck by the amount of space, a fancy pool, and enormous basketball courts.
鈥淎fter that moment, it really clicked, the difference between what we have, and what another school a few miles down the road was receiving,鈥� Paul said.
Since then, Paul has been working to make that reality click for others across the state. Children鈥檚 First Pennsylvania, a nonprofit advocacy group, last year invited Paul, along with Penn Wood classmates Trinity Giddens and Lisa Asamoah, to host a recapping a state school funding trial in which several Pennsylvania districts, including their own, argued that the state鈥檚 formula for funding schools was massively shortchanging school systems in low-wealth areas.
The disparities Paul encountered are reflected in the state鈥檚 , reported annually to the federal government. In 2019-20, the majority-Black William Penn district, with 4,700 students, spent $16,138 per student in federal, state, and local dollars. That same year, the 8,500-student, majority-white Lower Merion district spent close to $27,000 per student.
Last month, Paul was joining a Zoom meeting to discuss an op-ed he co-wrote urging the state to take action when he received what he called 鈥渁 great surprise": A judge had issued a ruling in favor of the districts that sued, deeming the state鈥檚 approach to school funding 鈥渦nconstitutional鈥� and in need of a major overhaul.
State lawmakers have the judge鈥檚 verdict, which means politicians now must come up with a remedy to ensure all students have equal access to an 鈥渆fficient and thorough鈥� education.
Tracking the trial from a student perspective
The three hosts of 鈥淧ENNding Funds,鈥� sponsored by the advocacy group Children鈥檚 First Pennsylvania, saw firsthand the machinations that led to the plaintiffs鈥� victory after nine years of legal battles.
Over 26 episodes between three and five minutes each, they interviewed teachers, attorneys, parents, and lawmakers; recapped developments from testimony on the stand; and shared candid reflections on their experiences in underfunded public schools鈥攂ringing in tissues from home for classrooms because the district didn鈥檛 provide any; having to eat cold 鈥渁lternative lunches鈥� because parents had racked up too much debt to pay for hot meals; and sitting in classrooms with chipping paint and no working heat.
Paul spoke with Education Week about how he came to host a school funding podcast, what he hopes listeners took away from it, and why he believes adults need to listen more closely to students.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What were some of the biggest issues you鈥檝e encountered in your school building?
There was flooding and roof leaks pretty often. All around, you can just see things were outdated. When the AC wasn鈥檛 working, it wasn鈥檛 immediately fixed. It took a while before anything was able to be fixed.
It鈥檚 hard to want to have things you were never exposed to. I don鈥檛 know what kind of opportunities I never should have expected. We wanted more AP classes, more clubs, more resources.
How did the opportunity to host a school funding podcast come about?
I pretty much found out about the lawsuit when [Children First] approached us about doing the podcast. I didn鈥檛 know anything about that until they introduced the topic.
It鈥檚 not fair that a student from my area has these kinds of limited opportunities, and another student who鈥檚 just like them, a few miles down from another town, has something way different.
Another person from my school had recommended me. I was sitting in my room, during the summer, I wasn鈥檛 doing much. When they asked if I wanted to do a podcast, I never thought I could do something to that degree. I thought it was great to have a greater voice for concerns that students had in our school.
What was the biggest learning curve you had to overcome?
At first I wasn鈥檛 a great public speaker at all. I was kind of stiff. I did have the experience of being a student representative, which opened me up to a degree. Going on the podcast, being forced to do it every other week, I feel like it really helped me be better at expressing my ideas and thoughts.
It ended up being a lot more fun talking to these people who have all these different perspectives and getting to ask them the questions I personally have had for all these years.
What was the most rewarding part of hosting the podcast?
One of the episodes, me and Trinity, we interviewed another student from our school, one of our friends. It was cool having a conversation we had in school amongst ourselves, and getting to broadcast that to all these different people.
I think this whole experience, it really helped me get better at public speaking, expressing my ideas. When I know something鈥檚 messed up, putting my voice out there, trying to say, 鈥渘o this isn鈥檛 right.鈥� My overall plan after high school is a pre-med biology track to go into the medical field, specifically trying to be a psychiatrist. I鈥檓 sure the lessons I got from doing the podcast will be really useful in my future career.
What message were you trying to send over the course of the episodes you produced?
I just wanted to get through to people, mainly adults. Students, we鈥檙e in the building, we see the conditions. We鈥檙e trying to showcase that these are all the challenges we have to deal with on a daily basis.
Students are probably the best people to talk about these kinds of issues. As children you feel like you don鈥檛 have a voice, let the adults handle this, it鈥檚 not my ring to step into. I can step up into my own community, my own school, and advocate for the betterment of my peers.
It鈥檚 not fair that a student from my area has these kinds of limited opportunities, and another student who鈥檚 just like them, a few miles down from another town, has something way different. We all have potential to learn and develop and do great things. I really wanted to point out that we shouldn鈥檛 have a system where two bright students may not be able to get to the same level because one school didn鈥檛 have the same level of education.
