Schools+Work+to+Deal+With+Cuts

=Corbett budget will force local tax hikes or service reductions=

//By Mary Niederberger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette//
==The deep cuts proposed by Gov. Tom Corbett for public school systems have school officials bracing themselves for possible tax hikes, elimination of programs, layoffs of staff and reduction from full-day to half-day kindergarten classes as they try to make up for the $1 billion in cuts to districts across the state.== ==The proposed budget reduces basic education funding from $5.8 billion to $5.3 billion, a message that came through loud and clear following the governor's budget address on Tuesday. But it was the news that filtered in later that the proposed budget also eliminates millions of dollars in state accountability block grants, educational assistance grants and reimbursements for charter school tuition that shocked public school officials.== ==The elimination of the grant programs means that some districts will have to consider returning their kindergarten programs to half day as they used accountability grant funds to expand to full day. It also means after-school tutoring programs financed by the educational assistance grants will be eliminated.== =="This budget is bad for students. This budget puts the state's budget problems on the backs of students," said Ron Cowell, a former state legislator who is president of the Education Policy and Leadership Council in Harrisburg. "This budget also eliminates all the improvements that have been made in recent years."==

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How much Gov. Tom Corbett's education cuts will cost each household in Pennsylvania, by county and school district. == == 

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For example, the Duquesne City School District will lose about $4 million of its $15.5 million annual budget, counting education funding, grants and charter school reimbursement.
==Ian Rosenblum, policy secretary for former Gov. Ed Rendell, has assembled what the loss means to each of the state's 500 school districts. According to his analysis, the biggest loss in Allegheny County is Pittsburgh Public Schools at $34.1 million, a figure consistent with the district's own preliminary analysis. That loss amounts to $341 per household, a figure the district would have to save via cuts or raise through taxes.==

Of the suburban districts, nearly half would face losses of more than $1 million, according to Mr. Rosenblum.
==In Duquesne, where there appears to be questions about whether the district could even function with the level of state cuts proposed, the loss per household is $899, according to Mr. Rosenblum's calculations.== ==Linda Hippert, executive director of the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, which operates the Duquesne district, said much needs to be discussed by the state board of control that oversees and the district and the elected board in the wake of the governor's proposed budget.== =="The lower socioeconomic districts are going to have to ask, what can we do differently to operate with this amount of money and can we operate. I don't have the answer for that now," Ms. Hippert said.== ==Superintendents and business managers in districts already struggling with the costs of paying tuition for high numbers of students who attend charter schools said they were blindsided by the elimination of the charter school reimbursement. In recent years, they had lobbied to have the reimbursement, which averaged between 25 and 30 percent, increased.== ==The Woodland Hills School District will lose at least $1.7 million in charter school tuition reimbursements. That's the amount the district will receive this year. Overall, Woodland Hills would see a $4.3 million cut in its state aid, which could cause building closures or 50 to 100 staff cuts, said superintendent Walter Calinger.==

"It's devastating. But I study politics, and Gov. Corbett said he was going to do this and he got the most votes, and now he's doing it," Mr. Calinger said.
==In addition to Woodland Hills, the districts hit the hardest by the elimination of charter school tuition reimbursements are Pittsburgh Public Schools, Clairton, Duquesne, McKeesport, Penn Hills, Steel Valley, Sto-Rox and Wilkinsburg.== ==In districts such as Steel Valley, McKeesport and West Mifflin, state grant money was used to expand kindergarten from half-day to full-day, and now school officials say they can't predict what will happen to kindergarten classes next year.== ==David Seropian, business manager for the McKeesport Area School District, said his board would have to decide if they can find local funding to keep kindergarten as a full-day program, but that decision is one of many they will have to ponder as they discuss the state funding cuts.== ==Steel Valley School Director Michael Terrick said officials in his district, where state grant funds were used to expand to full-day kindergarten six years ago, had already been in contact with their state legislators on the issue.== ==Mr. Cowell pointed out that early studies had shown that the state's investment in early childhood education appears to be paying off in improved elementary school performance among students, so it makes no sense to cut back kindergarten programs. Funding for Head Start programs and Pre-K Counts is included in the governor's budget.== ==Also on the chopping block will be after-school tutoring programs previously paid for with state grants -- programs that school officials in Mc­Keesport believe have helped to improve scores on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exams.==

"It just doesn't make sense," Mr. Seropian said.
==Mr. Cowell said his organization would be mobilizing to fight the cuts, but in the meantime, he said, school officials have their work cut out for them trying to figure out how to fill gaps, fund programs and maintain staff.== ==He referred to pending state legislation that would provide school vouchers and another bill that would change the rules for teacher layoffs and calls from the governor for districts to persuade teachers to take pay freezes.==

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