Springtime??

Is winter gone for good?  Or has the arrival of spring only brought warm thoughts to our minds?  The snowstorm last Friday, March 20^th,  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.