Pennsylvania+State+Education+Association's+report+says+schools+are+at+risk+of+bankruptcy

=By Jan Murphy= =Published by the Patriot News= =3/12/12= = = = = =The Chester-Upland School Districts is in such dire financial straits that administrators are worried about having enough cash on hand to make payroll and keep schools open through the rest of this school year.= = = = = =[|Steelton-Highspire School District] is among those it identifies as at the greatest risk of going bankrupt.= =In a report titled “Sounding the Alarm,” the [|Pennsylvania State Education Association]describes the impact that state funding cuts and policies are having on school districts’ ability to meet the educational needs of students.= =In it, the union calls on the Legislature and Gov. Tom Corbett to put more money into public schools and remove the limitations on property tax increases required by the state law known as Act 1.= =But the Corbett administration suggests there’s no reason for alarm.= =Time Eller, Department of Education press secretary, said having only one or two districts out of 747 public school entities encountering severe fiscal distress is no reason to sound the alarm.= =What is troubling, though, he said, is seeing districts run into financial issues in midyear after reporting to the department they passed a 2011-12 budget in June that balanced spending with anticipated revenue.= =“It’s not the fact that revenues are the problem. It’s spending that’s the problem,” Eller said. “School districts need to live within their means.”= =Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin County, one of the union’s staunchest critics and chairman of the Senate Education Committee, however, agrees with the union’s assessment that a public education funding crisis is looming.= =“As long as we continue down the path we’re going without some innovative changes to the system and the way the system is required to operate, I agree with that. I just don’t agree that the answer to that is more money, more money, more money,” Piccola said.= =His preferred solution includes reform initiatives such as school vouchers and charter school enhancements that the Legislature tried unsuccessfully to pass last year. He said that would inject competition for districts to keep down spending.= =Also, he said mandate relief measures, such as allowing districts to lay off teachers for economic reasons, would help them control costs. But those ideas, too, have stalled out in the legislative process.= =The union claims public schools are facing their toughest fiscal crisis since the 1930s.= =This year’s $860 million cut in public school aid as a result of the loss of federal stimulus dollars is one factor. The way the state funds public schools, the recession of 2007 and policy changes over the past decade including Act 1 and pension funding decisions are others.= =“Pennsylvania faces this situation because of choices made by public officials,” the report states. “If legislative action isn’t taken now, a significant number of school districts will be pushed to the breaking point of financial distress by 2014. Pennsylvania students will suffer the consequences of these choices.”= =They already are, it indicates. Fannett Metal School District in Franklin County didn’t buy textbooks and expects to run out of copy paper before the year ends. Northgate School District in Allegheny County cut kindergarten. Allentown School District has one physical education teacher who rotates among three elementary schools.= =Midstate districts cut positions and programs, closed schools and sought pay freezes to balance budgets, and are now looking at more cost-cutting for next year.= =PSEA President Michael Crossey said the cumulative effect of the financial challenges districts face, along with the $100 million cut in state support that Corbett is proposing for next year, prompted the union to issue the report.= =He said the union felt compelled to lay out the situation to state policymakers so they can see the impact their decisions are having and what lies ahead if they don’t shift course. He hopes to convince them to reject the governor’s proposed funding cut and look at new ways to generate money for schools.= =“It’s about doing what’s right for students,” Crossey said.= =Officials from Steelton-Highspire didn’t dispute the union’s findings that their district could soon be on the brink of financial distress. Their cost of paying charter school tuition for resident students has doubled in the past year and now consumes nearly $1 million of the district’s $18 million budget.= =District accountant Susan Helms cited the discrepancy between current costs and the state support that stands at 2007-08 levels as another factor contributing to its fiscal woes.= =As a poorer district, Superintendent Audrey Utley said, “We don’t have the ability to go to our taxpayers and say, ‘If we can raise our taxes, we can save these programs,’ because our taxpayers don’t have the ability to fill in the gap.”= =Eller said neither do taxpayers elsewhere in the state. He said, “Government at the state level and government at the local level need to keep in consideration the people who pay the bills and stop demanding they give more.”= =**School cutbacks**= =The following reflects decisions school boards made this year to balance their budgets:= =-70 percent increased class sizes= =-44 percent reduced course offerings= =-35 percent reduced or eliminated tutoring= =-14,159 positions were cut or left vacant= =//Sources: Pennsylvania School Administrators Association and the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials//= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =News= =home=