Editor's note: The author is a senior staff attorney at the Education Law Center, which is involved in the below-mentioned case.

Education is the greatest civil rights issue of our time. The promise of a public education system is that it opens doors to all students and provides them with the opportunity for success in life regardless of the circumstances of their birth. It is an essential feature of our democracy and the lodestar that guides and guards our right to the “pursuit of happiness” guaranteed as “inherent” in both our federal and state constitutions. But Pennsylvania's public school system is in crisis, leaving many of our poorest students without the means to pursue that happiness.

A majority of our schools are significantly underfunded and students pay the price. Pennsylvania's method of funding schools is one of the most inequitable in the nation, as the state's poorest school districts receive 33 percent less funding than the wealthiest school districts—the single largest gap in the country.