Survey+Says+Severe+School+Cuts+Coming

=By Bill Schackner= =//Published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette//= =//5/20/11//=

=A survey of Pennsylvania school districts released Thursday suggests teacher layoffs, instructional program cuts and tax increases beyond inflation are increasingly likely if Gov. Tom Corbett's cut of more than $1 billion in education subsidies stands.= =In a statement accompanying the survey's release, the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials and the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators warned that "deep cuts in core programs" would be unavoidable next year if districts already hit hard by the recession receive the full impact of cuts recommended in Mr. Corbett's proposed 2011-12 state budget.= =In fact, almost three quarters of the districts responding to the survey conducted by both associations in April said cuts in instructional programs were anticipated. Reductions would be felt in ways ranging from the elimination of summer school and daylong kindergarten to larger class sizes, both groups said.= =The survey also indicated that a larger share of districts expected to boost taxes beyond the inflation rate if the cuts stand -- 31 percent of them, versus 21 percent that did so this year.= =A spokesman for the governor could not immediately be reached, but Senate Education Committee Chairman Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin, offered a sharp rebuttal. He called the timing of the survey's release questionable and "no doubt designed to further the education establishment's insatiable appetite for more money."= =The associations polled all 500 districts in Pennsylvania and received responses from 263 of them.= =Seventy-one percent of the responding districts said they expected to cut instructional programs, 64 percent will eliminate tutoring and 51 percent will end summer school, the survey found.= =Thirty-one percent of the responding districts said they would end all-day kindergarten, and two-thirds planned to lay off instructional staff.= = = =An even higher share -- 70 percent -- anticipate noninstructional staff layoffs.= ="The impacts of the budget cuts are severe and will deeply affect the opportunity for students to learn across the state," Jim Buckheit, executive director of the school administrators association, said in a conference call with reporters. "It's the wrong answer for Pennsylvania's children today and the wrong answer for Pennsylvania's future."= = = =The two groups assert that the cuts would reverse educational gains made in recent years and say districts that previously managed to keep cuts largely away from the classroom can no longer do so.= =For example, they said, 17 percent of the responding districts increased class sizes this year, but 86 percent expected to do so next year.= ="The low-hanging fruit has largely been picked," Mr. Burkheit said. "There's no place else to go."= =The survey's release comes as the Legislature and the governor work on competing budget plans and ways to close a projected state deficit approaching $4 billion.= =The associations say Mr. Corbett's spending plan, unveiled in March, would cost school districts $578 million in state funds. They also noted that $654 million in federal stimulus aid expires in July and is not being replaced.= =Legislators have said they wanted to restore a portion of the governor's proposed cuts.= =In a statement, Mr. Piccola said Pennsylvania taxpayers give public education more than $25 billion annually and want accountability and shared sacrifice. He said Republican leaders repeatedly warned districts to spend federal stimulus dollars with extreme caution they would be gone after two years.= ="Some districts abided by these warnings; many did not," he said.= =The senator said legislation was progressing that would relieve school districts of costly burdens imposed by the Pennsylvania School Code, but he added that school districts were not immune to the recession.= ="Doing more with less is what the taxpayers are demanding of all levels of government," he said.= =Bill Schackner: bschckner@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1977.=

=PDF: Read the report on school finances=

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