Pa.+Senate+panel+offers+recovery+plan+for+troubled+school+districts

=By Karen Langley= =Published by the Post-Gazette= =5/23/12= = = = = = = =HARRISBURG -- Duquesne City and other financially distressed school districts could see charter schools opened, students sent to other districts and collective bargaining agreements revamped under a proposal approved by a Senate panel on Tuesday.= =The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin, chairman of the Education Committee, borrows from laws addressing distressed municipalities and the Philadelphia schools to lay out a process intended to help districts right their finances. As written, it would apply to Duquesne, which state officials have said cannot continue in its current form after years of financial and academic struggles, as well as the Chester Upland, York and Harrisburg districts.= =Under the plan, the secretary of education would declare those districts to be in "financial recovery" and appoint an official, known as a chief recovery officer, to develop and administer a financial recovery plan. That plan could include any of a number of specific tools, some of which could mean dramatic changes for the school district.= =The plan could call for a district to convert school buildings to charter schools, a process that, except in Philadelphia, requires the approval of more than half the teachers and parents in a district. It could require the negotiation of a new collective bargaining agreement, with the provision that if negotiations failed, the chief recovery officer could set a new pay scale for employees. And it could allow the district to provide for elementary education by paying another school system to educate its youngest students.= =If a district's school board approved a recovery plan, the district would be eligible for a long-term, interest-free loan to be used to implement the changes. (The Legislature would have to appropriate money before the Department of Education could make loans.) If the school board rejected the plan or failed to implement it, the secretary of education would ask the courts to appoint a receiver to oversee district finances.= =The legislation also would create a system to track districts at risk of financial distress. It calls for the Department of Education to collect financial data about districts and offer technical assistance to those that appear headed for financial problems.= =Mr. Piccola said his proposal is the best hope for the state to meet its constitutional obligation to provide for education.= ="We have financially distressed school districts in this commonwealth," he said. "Several of them are threatening to shut their doors before the end of the school year. The commonwealth is ultimately responsible for providing a thorough and efficient system of public education."= =Democrats on the Education Committee argued against the plan, but Republicans voted it through.= =The head of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, said the state should help districts by increasing their funding. Union president Michael Crossey said the proposal headed to the full Senate would only give the state control.= ="This is a plan for the state to take over school districts," he said. "I see nothing in here about how they're going to help children or students. I see nothing in here about helping them with their finances."= =The Pennsylvania School Boards Association supports the overall approach of the legislation because it would allow elected school boards to work with the state to avoid receivership, said Stuart Knade, chief counsel for the association. The group believes the legislation should go further in allowing school boards to lay off employees, he said.= =The Corbett administration supports the legislation that passed the Senate committee and plans to work with the House and Senate on the issue, said Tim Eller, a spokesman for the Department of Education.= =A spokeswoman for the Duquesne City School District said officials there had not yet reviewed the legislation.= = = = = = = =News= =home=