Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Spring (and the budget) is in the air....





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.