It is April and, even as spring is in the air at last, the
state budget is in the air, i.e., “up in the air.” There has been no movement or discussion regarding the
budget at the legislative level.
It is interesting to note that all of the four candidates vying for the
Democratic nod to run against the incumbent governor have a common campaign
theme. They agree that Pennsylvania
spends too little on its children in public education and levies too few taxes
on Marcellus shale drillers. As
seen in his latest round of ads on TV, Governor Corbett disagrees on both
counts. He claims that
Pennsylvania is at “the highest it’s ever been for spending in education.” Really? Let’s see… he claims that over
$10 billion dollars have gone from the state to local school districts. He
neglects to acknowledge that, to arrive at such a large figure, he includes
pension payments in his “educational spending” discussion. Pension allocations
are not related to the needs of students in public schools. This sleight of
hand, an interesting way to doctor the numbers, helps Mr. Corbett to blur the
truth about how much and to where “educational” money actually goes.
Terry Madonna, Director of the Center for Politics and
Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College, has just released the results his
statewide survey that measures public attitudes toward education, economic
development and a need for change in state support for public schools. In his
report, Dr. Madonna’s survey shows first that “large majorities of registered
voters believe public schools have an effect on the economy.” The same voters believe
that “the state’s investment in public schools should be larger” and that “a
school funding formula should be used to ensure fair distribution of state
funds to schools in all communities.” For more information, following is the link to his
full report: www.pasa-net.org/PressRelease4-22-14.pdf.
Let’s move on to a much more positive topic: On April 17 Mrs.
Kaschalk, our business manager, outlined for the public the district’s
user-friendly budget; we are not
recommending a tax increase. Her
presentation showed that almost 70% of our district’s budget is a fixed cost with
zero “wiggle room.” Each line item
was scrutinized to see if a reduction or elimination was warranted. Our district continues to do wonderful
things for its students, even with less money. This continues to be a source of satisfaction for board members,
taxpayers, as well as for me, but no district can function indefinitely at a
monetary deficit; it is inevitable that, unless circumstances change, districts
will be forced to sink into deficit spending. The governor’s proposed budget includes a
minimal increase for our district – but this amount does almost nothing to
offset the costs we incur to pay for unfunded or underfunded mandates. For this reason, I must report that the
cuts in place for the current school year will continue next year as well.
As always, I
urge you to contact the governor and/or your local legislators. Make your voice
heard! Let officials know that public education is a critical investment in our
children. As costs continue to go
up, and districts look to make ends meet, inadequate funding will undoubtedly
have a negative impact on the youth of our society, on our own well-being and
safety and, of course, on our purses.
As is usually the case, I like to close my blog with some
sports banter. While I’m happy
that the Pens are in the playoffs, I’m nervous every time they play. So far
they look lackluster against what I consider to be a lesser opponent. Unless they are amazingly strategic and
deliberately leading future opponents to think they’ll be easy to defeat, they
will need to play at a much higher level if they hope to move on. And of course, football is back in the
news. For one thing, the NFL draft commences in the near future Additionally, PSU’s
new coach seems to be having a positive impact on the Nittany Lion Football
program; at this point, his recruiting class for 2015 is ranked #1. I can’t wait...!
Enjoy the weather as we say good-bye to a long and cold
winter. Until next month, Dr. D.
