Wagner+requests+budget+increase,+more+oversight+of+cyber+charter+school+funding

=By Kevin Zwick= =Published by Capitolwire= =2/15/12= = = = = =HARRISBURG (Feb. 15) – The state’s top auditing official is requesting a 3.1 percent budget increase to cover health and retirement costs, computer system upgrades and raises for union employees.= = = =Auditor General Jack Wagner made his request before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, where he also said there is “a serious inequity” in the state’s funding formula for charter and cyber charter schools and internal monitoring of those funds is needed.= = = =Gov. Tom Corbett’s budget proposal includes a 5 percent cut, about a $2.1 million decrease from last year, to the Office of Auditor General, which would receive $42.4 million under the governors’ budget in 2012-13.= = = =If the governor’s proposed cut passes, it would amount to a 25 percent cut to the office over the past four years, a “substantial cut for our office, being the independent fiscal watchdog,” Wagner said.= = = =“All of you can’t continue to cut our budget … in the process you are harming information flowing or audits flowing that help you make decisions,” he said. “And our budget, if it ends up at $42 million, you have to go back 10, 15 years to when we were at that level.”= = = =He added, “You are only harming yourselves by not [having us] providing you with information to make the tough decisions you have to make all the time.”= = = =Wagner’s request reflects a spending increase of $1,331,000 over last year’s appropriation, which would bring the office’s total to $44,254,000, he said. Additional costs for the 2012-13 fiscal year will be about $1.4 million in health care; $1.3 million in retirement contribution increase; $250,000 for computer hardware; and $404,000 in bargaining unit raises.= = = =The office has 600 staff members, down from 755 when Wagner first took office in 2004.= = = =He also said that the office sent out furlough notices to its union employees on Wednesday for the first time under Wagner’s time in office. Two-thirds of the office’s staff belongs to the American Federal State Municipal Employees union, he said.= = = = **Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Allegheny, asked Wagner about the reimbursement and funding formula for charter and cyber charter schools.** = = = = **“It just really burns me to no end about how much money some of these cyber schools get when clearly they don’t have the institutional or physical costs” of brick-and-mortar schools, Ferlo said.** = = = = **Wagner responded, “There is a serious, and I repeat, serious inequity in the funding formula for charter and cyber charter schools, due to the fact that legislation was passed years ago and there have not been changes in it.** = = = = **“Initially, I think there was a good intent to do the right thing,” Wagner said, noting that he voted in favor of the initial charter school legislation when he was a state senator.** = = = = **“All of you eliminated the reimbursement formula for school districts … we suggested that in our report about a year and a half ago, and that was $225 million saved," he said. "But what we suggested back then was the elimination of the reimbursement formula, and, in addition to that, get the funding formula correct so that the school districts can keep the additional cost that is not being utilized in terms of educating the child" at charter schools.** = = = = **He criticized the Department of Education: "The Department of Education has taken a hands-off approach to charter and cyber charter schools. Why? I don’t know. It is bewildering to me, and I’m talking about multiple administrations.** = = = = **He added that "hundreds of millions of dollars" can be saved through better oversight and management of charter and cyber charter schools.** = = = =Appropriations Chairman Jake Corman, R-Centre, asked Wagner if he thought the Department of Public Welfare was too big for one secretary to monitor all the programs.= = = =Wagner didn’t directly answer the question, but said that the secretary has “the toughest job in state government.”= = = =Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne, asked Wagner about some of his recommendations for cost saving in DPW.= = = =Wagner said the area where the greatest potential for savings is in Medical Assistance.= = = =“Monthly checks are written to insurance companies for capitation payments, and DPW was not doing a good enough job monitoring the criteria for individuals associated with receiving Medical Assistance,” he said. “And we found a 10 percent-plus error rate in that area.= = = =Wagner said that rate was the result of a lack of frequent monitoring of whether or not someone qualified to receive Medical Assistance.= = = =“When that does not occur, it is not the individual generally speaking that is the recipient of the monies, it is an insurance company receiving a monthly capitation payment, even though an individual’s status has changed,” he said.= = = =Wagner said the office stands by the 10 percent error rate, even though the Rendell administration had said the error rate was around 4 percent.= = = =“If it was a 4 or 5 percent and it was corrected it would still be a $200-300 million savings. Our 10 percent error rate if it were corrected would be a $400-500 million savings,” he said.= = = =“We haven’t seen any substantive information that that error has been corrected,” he added.= = = =Baker also asked Wagner if the State Tax Equalization Board has the capacity, manpower or the technology to perform its duty.= = = =“No, they don’t,” Wagner said. The current budget proposal would move the board into the Department of Economic and Community Development, but Wagner said the board should be privatized.= = = =Wagner also suggested reforms to the Delaware River Port Authority, a joint authority between Pennsylvania and New Jersey.= = = =One provision Wagner supported is giving the Pennsylvania governor veto power on ruling of the authority. The New Jersey governor has veto power over authority rulings, he said.= = = = = = = = = = = = = =News= =home=