Is
winter gone for good? Or has the
arrival of spring only brought warm thoughts to our minds? The snowstorm last Friday, March 20th,
raised serious doubts about the
thought of flowers and trees budding: below is a picture of our first spring
track practice on that date…Sooner or later, as the calendar edges closer to
April, the sun will at last have a palpable effect on the days and nights in our
region.
March
is certainly a transitional month, as pleasant days mingle with not-so-seasonal
ones. The same “good news and bad
news” might apply to school finances, especially with a new governor at the
helm. Governor Wolf has proposed
many changes and additions to the new budget. On the positive side, there is proposed new money being allocated
to the basic education subsidy and the special education budget, as well as
relief from monies going to charter and cyber schools.
A
negative aspect of Governor Wolf’s plan is that funding for his budget will meet
with some resistance from the Republican-controlled House and Senate. While there appears to be a groundswell
of approval for increasing the basic education subsidy, the process for doing
so has resulted in some interesting discussions that will likely affect the
dollar amount assigned to this subsidy.
Related to the issue of money for cyber and charter schools, I wonder
how many people are aware that our District pays almost $300,000 to cyber
charter schools each year—this despite the fact that very little overhead costs
are associated with such online programs.
Of course, any relief and/or accountability by the legislature would be
a tremendous help for our district’s finances.
Since
Governor Wolf’s budget presentation, I have received three letters concerning
the proposed budget. The first was
from the Republican legislators to all Superintendents, urging us not to count
on any extra money when we develop next year’s budget (a bad omen, I must say). The second letter came from the Acting
Secretary of Education, Pedro Rivera, asking that all Superintendents send to
him their plans for the use of these additional monies (a good sign, right?). The third letter came from the speaker
of the House, Mike Turzai and Senate Majority leader, Dave Reed, asking
Governor Wolf to rescind the directive that Superintendents send Mr. Rivera their
plans for increased education money.
Talk about confusing messages! Maybe legislators have been using the
Abbot and Costello baseball skit (“who’s on first, what’s on second and I don’t
know is on third”) to guide their decisions….
I,
along with many other PA Superintendents, will be anxious to see how this all
shakes out for public education.
Central Cambria will continue to put aside money for cost increases
related to pensions, health care, and special education. Our Board of Directors have done a
great job maintaining and, in some cases, increasing programs. These are tough times in the education
arena; being proactive and forward-thinking will go a long way in maintaining
the excellence at Central Cambria School District.
Finally,
if it is close to the end of March, can football season be far behind? Many colleges, including PSU, have
begun spring practices. NFL free
agency had some interesting moves and changes, which have a way of whetting the
appetite of fans everywhere, regardless of which teams they favor. The Pens also seem to mirror the month of
March as they yoyo between playing poorly to looking like champions. I hope they realize the playoffs are
only two weeks away.
I
encourage you to not put away that shovel or snow blower yet, as I recall the
birth of my granddaughter about three years ago on April 18, when our district
got 10” of a heavy wet snow that caused many power outages in our area. Nice to know that the weather is
neither Republican nor Democrat and shows no favoritism…
Until
next month,
Dr.
D.
