Study shows rural Pennsylvania school districts not benefiting from nearby fracking

[TexasTowelie]

Natural-gas industry boosters make several arguments for why natural-gas drilling, aka fracking, is beneficial for Pennsylvania. But their main argument, and one that is often repeated by Republican and many Democratic politicians, is economic. Industry boosters claim the economic growth and jobs, especially in rural areas, that come with the growth in the fracking industry is too good to pass up, even if health and environmental problems follow.

But a new study from Penn State University is shedding light on some of those claims, with a focus rural school districts where fracking is occurring, and it's not positive.

Titled “A ‘Resource Curse’ for Education?: Deepening Educational Disparities in Pennsylvania’s Shale Gas Boomtowns,” authors and Penn State education department professors Matthew Gardner Kelly and Kai A. Schafft dig into the school district revenues in areas that were home to drilling rigs in between 2007-2015.

“Evidence from our analysis suggests that, on average, districts experiencing unconventional drilling had lower per-pupil revenues, locally raised per-pupil funding for schools, per-pupil income, and per-public property wealth than very similar districts that did not experience unconventional drilling," reads the study.

Read more: https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/study-shows-rural-pennsylvania-school-districts-not-benefiting-from-nearby-fracking/Content?oid=16835301
(Pittsburgh City Paper)