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Aldustus Jordan is public education specialist at Phila. Citizens for Children and Youth and on the Notebook editorial board.
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Still no education budget, but funding fight continues
Rendell's school spending proposals have been blocked by opponents of a tax increase.
by Aldustus Jordan
At the start of another school year, the state's education budget negotiations remained deadlocked, with no movement on proposals to increase the state's contribution toward school spending.
As hundreds of thousands of children headed back to Pennsylvania's classrooms in September, the first of Pennsylvania's 2003-2004 basic education subsidy payments to school districts was not forthcoming, which is likely to force many districts to borrow in order to keep their doors open.
The budget impasse dates back to March, when Governor Ed Rendell vetoed the legislature's proposed basic education subsidies, which were included within a bare bones budget.
Rendell has promised to shift more of the burden for funding schools to the state. He is holding out for an expanded education spending package that includes significant funding for pre-kindergarten, full-day kindergarten, class size reductions, tutoring support for academically struggling students and supports for teachers. Thousands of supporters of increased school funding have traveled to Harrisburg to urge action on Rendell's proposals.
"What it comes down to is the governor and legislature are wooing different constituencies," says Tim Potts, director of the Pennsylvania School Reform Network. "The governor is focused on Pennsylvania's students, and the legislature is concerned about taxpayers."
Anti-tax opposition
The governor's plan, which calls for a small increase in the state income tax to pay for school reforms, has been met with strong opposition by many in the Republican-controlled legislature.
"Too many legislators have an entrenched position of not raising taxes while at the same time poll after poll shows a majority of Pennsylvanians support an increase in the personal income tax in exchange for comprehensive [education] reform," says Nellie Sepulveda, campaign director for Good Schools Pennsylvania.
Rendell's tax plan has seen growing support amongst Pennsylvania citizens. A poll released by Quinnipiac University in early August showed that 56 percent of Pennsylvania residents surveyed supported the governor's proposals to raise income taxes in order to lower property taxes and increase aid to education.
While Rendell's proposals to increase school spending and taxes face significant resistance in both houses of the state legislature, the main obstacle to passage of the plan may be in the Republican-led Senate. In the House, legislative sources say Speaker John Perzel, a Republican, has spoken out about the need to build bipartisan support for the Governor's education package and has vowed to deliver the Republican votes necessary to pass the plan in the House.
Perzel's most recent public comments about the Rendell plan have not been supportive, however. In an opinion piece in the News Gleaner newspaper, Perzel wrote, "We cannot be guaranteed that our public education system would be improved by the creation of new, expensive programs and increased funding."
When House members voted on the education funding issue this summer, they agreed on only a minimal increase in spending in the basic education subsidy, far short of Rendell's plan for moving schools forward.
A similar outcome occurred in the Senate, which passed an education bill calling for an increase of less than 3 percent in basic education spending. Rendell promised to veto any budget with such a small funding increase, leading to the current stalemate.
Differences over gambling
Another sticking point is the role that income from slot machines will play in providing property tax relief for residents, a key component of Rendell's plan for restructuring the state's archaic funding structure for public education. While a recent poll reported that 66 percent of voters supported legalizing slots at racetracks and many legislators are supportive of this strategy for generating revenue, lawmakers differ on how to make this happen.
Members of the House passed legislation that would allow slots at racetracks as well as in downtown Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, with few restrictions on campaign contributions to lawmakers by interest groups that would benefit from a slot deal. Senate leaders, led by Philadelphia State Senator Vincent Fumo, wanted fewer sites and demanded stricter measures to prevent unsavory practices that could occur if lawmakers were allowed to financially benefit from a slots deal.
A recent twist to the budget talks is a "compromise" bill introduced by House Majority Leader Sam Smith, which would deliver new state education money through a block grant program in addition to a slight increase in the traditional education subsidy.
Under Rep. Smith's bill, block grants would be disbursed to districts not making adequate yearly progress towards meeting federal goals under No Child Left Behind, and local school boards would implement education reforms of their choosing. In the governor's plan, districts would be provided with money earmarked for specific reforms, including preschool and class size reduction. But Smith's block grant proposal is estimated to be worth $50 million, far smaller than the $600 million increase that Governor Rendell has requested.
As lawmakers try to bridge these differences, districts across the Commonwealth are left hanging, and Pennsylvania continues to bear the dubious distinction of being the fourth worst state in the nation in terms of distributing money equally across its schools.