School Funding: Class in for Cuts in Pennsylvania (PA)
May 5, 2011
HARRISBURG — The end of federal stimulus funds and an apparent philosophical shift within the state Department of Education has combined to make this year a difficult one for school districts across Pennsylvania.
Now, lawmakers are struggling to understand how funding changes will impact this year’s budget, and educational special interests are wondering how Gov. Tom Corbett’s plans for public education will play out over the next four years.
In the short term, the end of stimulus funds drove Corbett’s call for a $1.3 billion cut in basic education from the state budget this year.
Although state taxpayer funding for K-12 schooling is actually increasing by about $200 million, it is more than canceled out by the $1.4 billion drop in federal funds.
State Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said basic education funding received year-over-year increases during the administration of former Gov. Rendell and was shielded from the recession by the addition of stimulus funds.
However, Secretary of Education Ronald Tomalis is charting a new course and making a clear break from the policies of the Rendell administration.
Tomalis has said he does not believe mor e money necessarily equals better performance. And he has advocated for policies that allow state funding to “follow the child” rather than being tied to a specific school district.
At a budget hearing with the state House Appropriations Committee last month, Tomalis said he had “serious reservations” about elements of the state’s costing-out study — a key element of education funding during the Rendell administration that determined the basic formula for how state education dollars are dispersed.
While this year’s proposed basic education subsidy amount makes it clear the administration has changed the funding formula, the new model has yet to be revealed to lawmakers, who must approve the state budget by June 30.
State Rep. Mario Scavello, R-Monroe, said he does not understand why the three school districts in his district are losing money this year after seeing only modest increases from the stimulus.
Scavello said he would be unable to vote for the administration’s education initiatives until he better understood the funding structure.
The administration has continued to deflect questions about the direction of future education budgets.
“Since this is the first budget the governor has proposed, it’s going to depend on the course of the negotiations,” said Tim Eller, spokesperson for the Department of Education. “(Whether) it’s a long-term position taken from the administration, or if it’s just this year.”
Even if the cuts are only for this year, they could negatively impact education for years to come, said Thomas Gentzel, executive director of the Pennsylvania School Board Administrators.
The Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, has endorsed the Corbett administration’s suggestion that school districts freeze teachers’ pay for one year in order to save an estimate d $400 million.
“Our members are very active in discussing this with their legislators and making it clear what the reality of these proposed cuts is,” said union spokesman David Broderic.
“The reality is cuts to programs that work for our students, increases in class sizes and increased property taxes — in many cases, all three.”
Ronald Cowell, president of the Education and Policy Leadership Center, a Harrisburg-based education lobbying group, said he had never seen “such an enormous public backlash” to an education funding proposal made by a governor.
According to a recent Franklin and Marshall College poll, 70 percent of Pennsylvania Republicans and 85 percent of Pennsylvania Democrats opposed the cuts to public education.