From the Inquirer
Rendell gets education increase in budget
By Dan Hardy, Inquirer Staff Writer
Governor Rendell's proposed 2008-09 education budget sought to create a predictable and long-term education funding system for Pennsylvania that would take the first step toward increasing state funding for school districts by $2.6 billion over the next six years.
He appears to have gotten much of what he wanted.
For starters, there's a historic increase in education funding by $274 million, close to the $291 million Rendell originally asked for.
The basic education funding will be allocated based on figures from a recent "costing out" study that determined how much money the neediest districts should get.
No district will get less than a 3 percent hike; that's double the 1.5 percent minimum increase that Rendell had asked for, according to a legislative official privy to the negotiations under way to finalize the overall budget agreement reached early yesterday morning.
The legislature did not commit to using the same formula to increase state funding over the next six years, the official said. But the legislation will refer to targets based on this year's allocations that the legislature hopes to meet in the future, he said.
"This is an immense victory for children and schools in Pennsylvania," said Baruch Kintisch, a spokesman for the Education Law Center, an advocacy group that has pushed for increased state funding and a predictable funding system. "This is a historic gain - we now have a real [basic education] formula that will be the baseline for the future."
Philadelphia will get $34 million less in basic education money than the $85 million increase Rendell had requested. But, that money will be made up through increases in other funding for the district, which will receive $1.3 billion in state aid next year.
Helen Gym, a Philadelphia parent and education activist, was more cautious. "We don't want the legislature to think this is a one-time commitment and we're done," she said. "It is a significant boost but only when they actually make a commitment to keep increasing the funding over the long run will we see real change."
Basic education funding made up the largest portion of Rendell's proposed $9.38 billion education budget proposal.
The budget legislation will also bar the development of statewide graduation tests. The State Board of Education, with strong Rendell administration backing, had proposed that the state institute a series of subject tests that students could take to show that they knew the material.
The idea triggered widespread opposition among school district officials and state lawmakers.
The budget will have less special-education funding than the governor had asked for. Rendell had requested $1.04 billion, a 3 percent increase; the final figure will be about $1.03 billion, a 1.7 percent increase, said Timothy Allwein, the legislative liaison for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
Funding for the governor's Classrooms for the Future program, to put laptops in every high school core-subject classroom, was cut from the proposed $90 million to $45 million, the legislative official said.
Education department officials said details of the agreement were not final and they could not comment.
Allwein, of the school boards association, said that "I think education made out as well as can be expected, given the fiscal realities of this year and the concerns for what the future was going to bring."
The smaller special-education increase, he said, "is a huge blow - districts will have to shift funds to make up for this loss."
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Details of Pa. budget deal
The Associated Press
Details of the budget deal struck early Monday between Gov. Ed Rendell and state legislative leaders:
BUDGET
$28.2 billion for fiscal year 2008-09 beginning Tuesday
3.8 percent increase over past year's spending
Does not require any broad-based tax or fee increases
Uses about $550 million in one-time funds to fill hole in revenues
Does not dip into state's budget reserve to support spending
Agreement before fiscal year's end averts threatened furloughs of 25,000 state workers
BORROWING
$800 million from slot-machine gambling revenues for dams and water and sewer facilities
$500 million from electric utility gross receipts tax revenue for alternative energy projects
$800 million from general tax revenues for civic redevelopment projects
$350 million from motorist fees and taxes to fix about 400 of the state's most dangerous bridges
ADDITIONAL LEGISLATION
Requirement that alternative fuels be added to each gallon of diesel or gas as in-state production rises.
Source: Gov. Ed Rendell, Senate Republicans.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
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4 comments:
If I'm doing this right, in round numbers, Morrisville gets $5.45 million in state funding in the 2008-09 budget of ~$20 million.
If, according to the article, every district gets at least a 3% state funding increase, and assuming Morrisville's increase is the 3% minimum, that equates to a $163,500 increase in Morrisville's state funding.
If a tax mil generates $59,000, this equates to a little less than 2.8 mils out of the total 187.3 mil budget. This is a little under 1.5%, or about $50 for a home assessed at the Morrisville average of $18,000 (average school tax bill = $3,371).
Nothing to sneeze at, but not a miracle cure either. The state funding ramp-up needs to continue for the full 6 years - and then some....
July 03, 2008 ONLINE EDITION
Sioux City Journal.com
First hearing set in school funding lawsuit
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- A circuit judge will hold the first hearing this week in a lawsuit alleging the state is falling far short of providing the money school districts need.
The lawsuit contends South Dakota's school funding system substantially underfunds schools and violates a constitutional provision guaranteeing all children access to a free, adequate and quality public education.
Tuesday's hearing before Circuit Judge Lori Wilbur will deal with preliminary issues involved in the lawsuit. A trial is scheduled for the summer of 2008 on the main issue of whether state funding for schools is inadequate and violates the South Dakota Constitution.
Seventy school districts have joined the lawsuit so far, and school boards in a number of other districts will discuss joining later this month, said Scott Abdallah, a Sioux Falls lawyer representing the districts. Plaintiffs include parents of some students and the South Dakota Coalition of Schools.
A study done for school districts last year concluded that annual funding for K-12 education falls short of needs by $134 million to $406 million.
The school districts and the South Dakota Coalition of Schools have asked the judge to rule that the South Dakota Constitution establishes education as a fundamental right and guarantees all children a free, adequate and quality education.
The judge also is being asked to rule that the constitutional standard for an adequate and quality education is that it prepares students to meet state academic standards and achievement requirements; function as voters, jury members and participants in a democratic society; find meaningful employment and compete effectively in the economy; and qualify for higher education.
State lawyers say more information must be gathered before such questions can be decided.
The state contends the funding system is constitutional and that the suit should be dismissed because it seeks to have the court violate the separation of powers between the judicial and legislative branches of government. Courts can't decide political questions dealing with education policy, they contend.
"The Court has no power to force the Legislature to appropriate money or pass a new school funding scheme," state lawyers said in written arguments.
The schools say the Legislature doesn't provide enough money for the districts to give students an adequate and quality education.
The state wants to remove the South Dakota Coalition of Schools as a plaintiff. The coalition is limited to the legal authority granted to school districts, which have no power to sue the state, challenge the constitutionality of state law or make a claim against the state treasury, lawyers said.
The court schedule provides for completion of discovery, the process in which the two sides gather and exchange information, by March 31, 2008. The trial would start June 2, 2008, and run for six to eight weeks.
Meanwhile, Gov. Mike Rounds has been arguing in recent weeks that the state has made great strides in funding education. State aid to schools is about $350 million a year, including special education.
At the end of the legislative session two weeks ago, Rounds said the Legislature increased state aid to schools by $32 million for the next budget year.
"Overall, I think this Legislature basically did some very good work for education," the governor said.
However, education groups have said the funding increase is not as great as the governor and lawmakers have claimed because at least $6.5 million in one-time money in this year's education aid is not included in next year's budget.
The governor's budget proposal provided $17 million to boost state aid to schools by 3 percent as required by law and another $6 million for several programs, including one that gives pay raises to some teachers involved in education improvement projects. The Legislature added another $9 million in education spending from revenue created by the voter-passed increase in the state cigarette tax.
Part of the extra spending boosts ongoing general state aid to 3.8 percent for the year.
Rounds noted that general state aid increases next year by $163 per student.
However, Wayne Lueders, executive director of South Dakota Associated School Boards, said people should check how the Legislature's actions affected their local schools. Some districts will get more than the average percentage increase, while others will get far less, he said
pennLive.com
The Patriot -News
Lawsuit criticizes special-ed formula
System strains needy districts, group says Sunday, June 22, 2008BY MARTHA RAFFAELEOf The Associated Press
Pennsylvania's special-education funding formula is under attack by a federal lawsuit that claims the state shortchanges needy school districts with large numbers of learning-disabled students.
The Community Justice Project, a Harrisburg-based legal advocacy group for the poor, wants the state Education Department to revise the formula, which assumes that 16 percent of all students in each of Pennsylvania's 501 school districts need special-education services.
The state has used the formula since 1994 to distribute special-education aid.
But the formula ignores factors such as the actual number of special-education students, the cost of providing services and a school district's ability to pay for special education with local property tax dollars, said Evalynn Welling, a lawyer with the organization's Pittsburgh office.
"We have a systemic failure to distribute special-education funds in an equitable fashion," Welling said Friday during a hearing on the plaintiffs' request for class-action status.
U.S. District Judge Yvette Kane did not immediately rule on the request. Kane said she would leave the court record open for 10 days to give attorneys for both sides time to file affidavits, then issue an order.
The organization filed the lawsuit in 2006 on behalf of seven special-education students and their parents in the Reading and Lancaster school districts.
All seven, identified only by their initials, have struggled in school because they have been deprived of services such as tutoring and teachers' aides, according to the lawsuit. Some are also trying to learn English as a second language, but lack bilingual instructors.
Because the formula applies the same assumption of special-education enrollment statewide, districts with lower enrollments are more richly rewarded on a per-student basis, the lawsuit alleges.
Special-education students make up about one-quarter of the public-school enrollment in Lancaster and about 15 percent in Reading. The state's funding per special-education student for those districts amounted to $2,861 and $3,581 respectively for the 2005-06 school year, according to the lawsuit.
By contrast, the Mars Area School District in Butler County, where roughly 5 percent of students are enrolled in special education, received $7,827 in per-student state funding during that same year.
The Education Department has not formally responded to the lawsuit's allegations that the formula is unfair. Michael L. Harvey, a state attorney representing the agency, declined to comment after Friday's hearing.
There's an article in today's Phila. Inquirer at this link:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news
/local/24058084.html
It has an accompanying graphic at this link:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer
/gallery/24050274.html
Anyway, the graphic lays out state education funding increases for each district in the 5-county Phila. metro area, based on the recent PA budget deal.
What I learned from this is:
1. Morrisville gets the minimum 3% funding boost;
2. The boost is only in the state's "basic education funding", which for M'ville is only on the order of $2.9-3.0 million, not $5.45 million.
So, PA's funding of M'ville basic ed goes from $2,882,794 in 2007-08 to $2,969,278 in 2008-09, an increase of $86,484. This equates to only about $26 for the home assessed at the M'ville average of $18,000.
Not that much really.
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