Can a school district appeal to raise my Pennsylvania property assessment?
Can a school district appeal to raise my Pennsylvania property assessment?
Yes — Pennsylvania school districts can file appeals to raise assessments under 53 Pa.C.S. §8855, but the state Supreme Court's uniformity rulings bar them from selectively targeting properties by type (such as recently sold homes), so a reverse appeal that singles you out may be unconstitutional.
Pennsylvania is one of the few states where a **taxing body can appeal to raise your assessment — a so-called "reverse appeal," most often filed by a school district chasing extra revenue after a property sells for more than its assessed value.
The statutory right. 53 Pa.C.S. §8855 gives a school district or other taxing district the right to appeal any assessment within its jurisdiction "in the same manner, subject to the same procedure and with like effect" as an owner's appeal. On its face, that lets a district file against your property.
The constitutional limit.** The right is sharply constrained by the Pennsylvania Constitution's Uniformity Clause. In Valley Forge Towers Apartments N, LP v. Upper Merion Area School District (2017), the state Supreme Court held that a taxing authority may not selectively appeal assessments based on a property's classification — for example, targeting only commercial properties or only recently sold homes — because all property in a taxing district is a single class entitled to uniform treatment. The Court reaffirmed and applied these uniformity limits to selective reverse appeals again in 2026.
What this means for you. A school district can still file a reverse appeal, but it must do so in a way that complies with uniformity — it cannot run a program that cherry-picks recent sales while ignoring comparable un-sold properties. If you're hit with a reverse appeal, two defenses are worth raising: (1) whether the district's appeal program is unconstitutionally selective under Valley Forge, and (2) whether the Common Level Ratio applied to your actual market value still supports a lower number than the district seeks.
Bottom line: a recent purchase above your assessed value can attract a school-district appeal, but the district must play by uniformity rules — and you have standing to challenge a selective program.