PSEA+Testimony+on+Budget+Cuts+to+House+Democratic+Policy+Committee

= Testimony of the = = Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) = = Public Hearing Regarding = = Education Funding Cuts = = Presented to the = = House Democratic Policy Committee = = February 16, 2012 = = By = = Michael J. Crossey = = PSEA President = = = = = =Good morning Chairman Sturla and members of the Policy Committee. I am Mike Crossey, a= =teacher in the Keystone Oaks School District with more than 34 years of classroom experience.= =I am also the president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA). On behalf of= =our 193,000 hard-working educators, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the current= =education funding proposal set forth by Governor Corbett.= =When the governor introduced his budget last week there was some debate about whether or not= =education funding had been increased, decreased, or level-funded. That debate is now over.= =“We reduced education if you a take a look at it as a whole.”i Those were the words of Governor= =Tom Corbett to a reporter last week.= =For the second year in a row, the Governor has made clear his spending priorities for= =Pennsylvania, and once again, public education was not among them. In his first budget address,= =Governor Corbett proposed a billion dollars in cuts to education funding. And, while the= =Legislature saw fit to decrease the severity of those cuts, it appears the Governor intends to finish= =the job. This year, another $100 million in funding cuts to the classroom have been set before= =the General Assembly.= =Prior to Governor Corbett’s administration, Pennsylvania was making targeted funding= =investments for programs proven that work for our students. These investments were working,= =as evidenced in part by the academic gains Pennsylvania students have made. ii Now, the= =administration has chosen to curtail those investments.= =Prior to his admission, it appeared Governor Corbett was attempting to mask his funding cuts= =with a complicated fiscal shell game, hiding a freeze in the Basic Education funding line item by= =combining several unrelated budgetary line items into a larger and new block grant program. His= =budget eliminates the proven Accountability Block Grant program, and this additional $100= =million in proposed classroom funding cuts contributes to the growing financial crisis in= =Pennsylvania’s school districts and will lead to the elimination of research-tested, classroomproven= =programs. If enacted, Governor Corbett’s latest proposal will leave school officials and= =property taxpayers to figure out how to close a two-year, nearly $1 billion funding gap.= =3= =These cuts are real. You can’t open a newspaper without reading about the dire consequences= =the Governor’s cuts have had on public school districts. As he set forth his second “cuts only”= =budget, Governor Corbett suggested that districts should “adjust” to meet their own needs.= =Unfortunately, his budget proposal leaves them with fewer resources, and the only “adjustments”= =are likely to be even larger classes, the elimination of additional programs, and fewer= =opportunities for children.= =Beyond the new Student Achievement Education Block Grant proposal, the Governor proposes= =to eliminate the School Nutrition Incentive Program, the Mobile Science Education Program, and= =the Job Training Program. In addition, his proposal level funds or reduces by 5-10 percent Pre-K= =Counts, Head Start, Adult and Family Literacy, and Teacher Professional Development. Soon,= =there will be little left to cut. If the Legislature enacts the Governor’s 2012-2013 proposal, it will= =lock in the significant damage that has already been caused across the Commonwealth, damage= =to the state’s public schools that will take years and billions of dollars to repair.= =One of the more troubling aspects of Governor Corbett’s budget proposal is one he chose not to= =address. Regardless of what happens next year, there are a growing number of school districts= =that are in dire fiscal distress today. Some, such as Chester Upland and York City, may not be= =able to pay their bills for the remainder of the current academic year. In the weeks leading up to= =his budget address, it took a federal court order to break a state logjam and make sure Chester= =Upland could keep its doors open through at least February. To think that there would be no= =mention of these districts and, worse, only further cuts proposed for them is disappointing.= =School districts like Chester Upland, York City, Erie City, and others are facing significant= =financial distress as they struggle just to pay their bills or even keep their doors open. These= =districts and the students they serve need financial support for the research-based programs and= =strategies we know work to increase student achievement. We need to pay special attention to= =the needs of students in Pennsylvania’s struggling schools. One of the most shocking facts about= =Corbett’s budget is that it cuts struggling schools the deepest. These are the districts that rely on= =state aid the most to give a fair chance to students already at a disadvantage in a game with rules= =stacked against them.= =4= =These districts need programs that work, and they need resources to pay for them. This is why= =PSEA supports Representative DePasquale’s Priority Assistance Grants for Education= =legislation, or PAGE. This legislation would assist 18 school districts with academic and= =financial challenges. These districts would qualify for extra state funding and could use the= =funds to pay for any of 10 solutions that research proves will work for their students. Yet, even= =the additional $30 million proposed in the bill will hardly make a dent in the total funding cuts= =already exacted.= =There appears to be significant policy implications in the Governor’s budget proposal that are not= =transparent. PSEA believes that every legislator should be wary of the Student Achievement= =Education Block Grant. This proposal will make it difficult to track state support in the future= =and reverses the equity, transparency, and predictability of the funding formula Pennsylvania= =enacted in 2008. That funding formula, while not perfect, presented a real opportunity to address= =the inequities of how Pennsylvania funds our public schools. For the first time in two decades,= =the formula – coupled with funding investments – moved education funding policy in= =Pennsylvania toward providing students the resources they need to achieve academic success= =regardless of the wealth of their local communities. It distributed state funds for Basic Education= =based on the factors that impact the cost of providing our kids with a quality education such as= =student enrollment figures, district size, English language proficiency, and poverty of students,= =rather than by some arbitrary political decision made by only a few individuals during closeddoor= =negotiations.= =Governor Corbett has stated that he didn’t “cut the formula.” In reality, he eliminated it through= =repeal of language contained in Act 24 of 2011. Now, he wants to eliminate more formuladriven= =line items – public and non-public school transportation and employee Social Security= =payments – and merge them with Basic Education Funding into one “block grant,” which means= =it will be impossible to discern the actual level of state support for basic operations.= =The core principles of equitable and full funding for students are lost in this block grant= =approach. Placing the Basic Education subsidy as part of a block grant undermines the ability of= =the state to distribute funding for students based on the real costs of education including= =5= =demographic factors, the wealth of the surrounding community, and the unique needs of= =students. The inclusion of transportation costs in the block grant will specifically hurt rural= =districts that have received more support from the state based on a formula given factors, such as= =the long distances buses must travel to transport students. Social Security payments in the block= =grant hurt poorer school districts – those which withstood the worst harm from the Governor’s= =cuts of 2011 – since those payments will no longer be distributed based on a district’s ability to= =pay. The “block grant” approach that couples Basic Education, transportation, and Social= =Security funding into one will enable the state to hide inequitable and inadequate funding to= =schools behind “inflationary” increases.= =It doesn’t have to be this way. We know that failing to invest in Pre-K-12 education will reduce= =our educated workforce and our economic strength as a Commonwealth. In addition, it will= =create increased societal costs in the future for law enforcement, corrections, and welfare.= =Research shows an inextricable link between investment in education and economic strength.= =Investing in education:= =• Increases productivity and ensures a competitive workforce;= =• Leads to higher earnings for educated workers; and= =• Reduces dependence on public assistance programs.= =It is time for Pennsylvanians to stand strong and oppose the Governor’s budget cuts and wrongheaded= =funding policies. PSEA believes there are other options available to the Commonwealth= =to balance the budget rather than a “cuts only” approach that will have deleterious impacts in= =both the short- and long-term. PSEA is part of the Coalition for Labor Engagement and= =Accountable Revenues (CLEAR) which recently unveiled its report “A Better Way for PA:= =Restoring Pennsylvania’s Fiscal Health through Fairness, Efficiency and Innovation.”iii In our= =report, CLEAR outlines specific recommendations for efficiencies, cost savings, and revenue= =generation totaling more than $2 billion for the Commonwealth.= =Even if only a select few of these recommendations are put into effect, Pennsylvania could once= =again invest in education and other critical infrastructure rather than cutting and forcing= =6= =taxpayers to pick up the tab on the local level. And we would ask that at the very least, policies= =that provide tax breaks to corporations – such as the $475 million in combined cuts and tax= =credits in the Governor’s current budget proposal – while significantly cutting Pre-K-12= =education and Higher Education come under harsh scrutiny prior to being enacted.= =Right now, some students across the Commonwealth are hearing that their favorite classes and= =teachers will not be there next year. Parents are learning that bus routes will be dropped, and= =foreign language and arts classes will be eliminated. Parents will start paying for their children= =to participate in extracurricular activities. School boards already have eliminated thousands of= =teaching positions, increased class sizes, and reduced full-day Kindergarten offerings, tutoring,= =summer school, and extracurricular activities.= =The bottom line is this: School districts cannot sustain a second year of funding cuts. We hope= =the General Assembly will reject the Governor’s shell game and return to a sound funding= =formula based on costs of providing students with the opportunities they need to meet state= =education goals. Now is the time to invest in our future and invest in our students in order to= =ensure a vibrant economy and a workforce to drive it.= =Thank you for the opportunity to speak, and I look forward to your questions.=

=i= =[]= =ii= =[]= =iii= =[|http://www.clearforpa.org/publication_files/a-­‐better-­‐way-­‐for-­‐pa-­‐-­‐-­‐executive-­‐summary.pdf]= = = = = = = = = = = =News= =home=