Don't forget to look at Gov. Rendell's budget plan that includes an increase for education.
Philadelphia Inquirer, Tue, Feb. 12, 2008
School budgets likely to feel sting of housing credit woes WASHINGTON - School budgets have seemed to defy gravity in recent years - going up steadily. But school board members from across the country say they are bracing for leaner times forced by the economic downturn.
School board members, gathered in Washington last week for an annual conference, said shortfalls in state budgets coupled with pessimistic predictions about local revenues were forcing them to look for ways to trim next year's budgets, which they are working on now.
About half the states face projected budget shortfalls, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington research group.
The downturn in the housing market has led to a drop in state revenue from sales taxes associated with construction materials, furniture and other goods, said Liz McNichol, senior fellow at the center. She said job losses around the country could lead to a reduction in income taxes collected by states.
At the same time, economists predict local revenues will drop over the next few years as real estate values decline or stagnate, generating less in local property taxes for school budgets.
Board members from Virginia to Alaska attending the National School Boards Association's legislative conference said they were considering rolling back benefits to school employees, reducing staff, and limiting tutoring and extracurricular activities available to students.
Among the most worried were board members from California, where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed more than $4 billion in cuts to schools.
"It would decimate education as it exists right now," said Paul Chatman, a school board member from Ocean View, Calif.
Chatman said some of the district's new teachers, who are not protected by seniority rules, will lose their jobs, even if the governor's cuts are scaled back as expected.
A projected shortfall in Minnesota's budget has education officials there worried, said Jackie Magnuson, a board member from the Minneapolis suburb of Rosemount.
She said school districts around the state would likely try to persuade voters to approve increased taxes for school funding, but she said such ballot initiatives would not pass easily.
"They're not going to be in any real particular hurry to run and help support the schools and pay for increased taxes for you, even if they'd like to, because they're already up to their eyeballs [in bills]," she said.
In Pennsylvania, Gov. Rendell's 2008-09 budget proposes a $291 million increase in basic education funding. But a study commissioned by the Pennsylvania legislature and released in November says education in the state is underfunded by $4.6 billion.
In New Jersey, Gov. Corzine has proposed a $530 million increase in state aid to schools, but coupled it with a change in the state-aid formula that has upset many urban districts.
Around the nation, even wealthy school districts are feeling the pinch.
In booming Fairfax County, Va., school officials are contemplating cuts such as requiring students to pick up their own tabs for Advanced Placement tests.
It's all a reversal from recent years, when home values in many parts of the country skyrocketed and schools pocketed more property-tax revenue. It's unclear how much property values could come down, and the timing could vary nationwide as homes are reassessed.
"The watchword right now is 'wait and see,' " said Michael Griffith, a school finance analyst at the Education Commission of the States, based in Denver.
School budgets typically grow at rates higher than inflation. Griffith said this year some budgets may grow more slowly, or stay level.
The belt tightening also comes as schools face mounting pressure to boost student achievement under state initiatives and the federal No Child Left Behind law, which sanctions schools that fail to raise scores and reduce learning gaps between minority and white students and low-income children and wealthier ones.
