Posted: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 5:11 pm | Updated: 9:27 pm, Tue Jan 29, 2013.
Posted on January 29, 2013
LANDISVILLE -- With state revenues exceeding expectations, Pennsylvania’s education secretary on Tuesday said that Gov. Tom Corbett will propose an increase in public education funding when he unveils his 2013-14 spending plan next week.“I think that many people will be pleased to see some of the things … in the budget address,” Education Secretary Ron Tomalis said following a visit to the Hempfield School District in Lancaster County.
Tomalis wouldn't say how much of an increase Corbett will propose during his address to the General Assembly Tuesday. Corbett allocated $11.4 billion for early, basic and higher education for the current budget year.
“This is a transformative time in education and we do need to invest in our students in a way that’s a little bit different,” Tomalis said.
Some of that investment will come in the form of local relief from some mandates; increased emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math; and investments in a new educator evaluation system.
Mandate relief, he said, could be the keystone of the administration’s new education emphasis.
“The reason why laws get passed is they get put in place to address an issue. Sometimes, those issues have been in place for a long, long time and we get used to dealing with things in a certain way,” Tomalis said. “What we want to say to a school district is, come to us and look for an opportunity for you to do things better for your kids, for the operations of your district and we’ll see what we can do to relieve those mandates.”
Tomalis admitted the state’s ability to extend mandate relief to school districts depends on whether legislators will change state law. He said the administration will work with legislators to make sure that happens.
“We really shouldn’t have to think about creating a statute in the school code to get things out of the way so that people can be innovative at the front lines,” he said, noting that the state couldn't supersede federal mandates.
Lower Bucks school district officials said they would welcome that reprieve.
“I believe we would welcome the ability to apply some flexibility to our operations against the many mandates that are imposed on school districts by the Department of Education,” said Council Rock Superintendent Mark Klein.
Samuel Lee, superintendent of schools for Bristol Township School District, expressed his optimism as well. "I'm encouraged by the secretary's words and look forward to the details related to them," he said.
David Baugh, Bensalem Township School District superintendent, also expressed hope of easing up on state mandates.
"We would welcome relief from any unfunded mandates and the opportunity to be more flexible and creative to meet the needs of our students," he said. "We are slowly implementing STEM so grants and support could really help us jump start our efforts in this vital area of curriculum and instruction."
On other elements of the governor's message, Baugh said he was "delighted" with the promise of additional state funding for public education.
But he expressed "grave reservations" about the push for teacher evaluations. "Top experts around the nation believe that these sorts of evaluations are neither helpful nor constructive for improving teaching and learning," Baugh said.
Tomalis said the governor’s educator evaluation system would reward educators and districts that break norms and innovate and bring those innovations to other educators and districts.
“More than anything else, it’s that quality of instruction that we see in the classroom that’s going to change the life of those students. Administrators want to make sure the tools are in place so that we can do more and more strong professional development,” Tomalis said.
Tomalis said there must also be pension reform, though it might not happen simultaneously with the adoption of the 2013-14 budget. The state Constitution requires that a balanced budget be adopted by June 30. The fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30 of the following year.
“We are, today, spending record amounts of state funding on K-12 public education. We’re at a level we’ve never been before. A lot of those dollars are dedicated to our obligations to meet the pension requirements. We may see a $500 million-a-year increase to meet those pension requirements if we don’t get changes to pension reform,” the education secretary said.
The Public School Employees’ Retirement System, known as PSERS, has seen its annual pension line jump from $260 million in 2011, Tomalis said, to $800 million now. Without pension reform, he said the system’s pension budget line would soon balloon to $1.2 billion.
Corbett has suffered politically with his past two education budgets, but Tomalis argued that the Republican governor has done what he could to offset dramatic drops in the economy and the disappearance of federal stimulus dollars. He said the lack of stimulus, the pension explosion, and the drop in state revenue were “whammies.”
“The biggest cut in public education funding that happened in PA happened two years before the governor took office. The governor increased the funding to basic education to get back to the pre-stimulus level in the first year but in addition to that we had the pension obligations,” Tomalis said.
“Now, we see the changes in the revenue coming in because of the changes in the economy and the governor wants to support, and is going to be supporting, increased commitments to pub education all across the board,” he said.
“This is a transformative time in education and we do need to invest in our students in a way that’s a little bit different,” Tomalis said.
Some of that investment will come in the form of local relief from some mandates; increased emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math; and investments in a new educator evaluation system.
Mandate relief, he said, could be the keystone of the administration’s new education emphasis.
“The reason why laws get passed is they get put in place to address an issue. Sometimes, those issues have been in place for a long, long time and we get used to dealing with things in a certain way,” Tomalis said. “What we want to say to a school district is, come to us and look for an opportunity for you to do things better for your kids, for the operations of your district and we’ll see what we can do to relieve those mandates.”
Tomalis admitted the state’s ability to extend mandate relief to school districts depends on whether legislators will change state law. He said the administration will work with legislators to make sure that happens.
“We really shouldn’t have to think about creating a statute in the school code to get things out of the way so that people can be innovative at the front lines,” he said, noting that the state couldn't supersede federal mandates.
Lower Bucks school district officials said they would welcome that reprieve.
“I believe we would welcome the ability to apply some flexibility to our operations against the many mandates that are imposed on school districts by the Department of Education,” said Council Rock Superintendent Mark Klein.
Samuel Lee, superintendent of schools for Bristol Township School District, expressed his optimism as well. "I'm encouraged by the secretary's words and look forward to the details related to them," he said.
David Baugh, Bensalem Township School District superintendent, also expressed hope of easing up on state mandates.
"We would welcome relief from any unfunded mandates and the opportunity to be more flexible and creative to meet the needs of our students," he said. "We are slowly implementing STEM so grants and support could really help us jump start our efforts in this vital area of curriculum and instruction."
On other elements of the governor's message, Baugh said he was "delighted" with the promise of additional state funding for public education.
But he expressed "grave reservations" about the push for teacher evaluations. "Top experts around the nation believe that these sorts of evaluations are neither helpful nor constructive for improving teaching and learning," Baugh said.
Tomalis said the governor’s educator evaluation system would reward educators and districts that break norms and innovate and bring those innovations to other educators and districts.
“More than anything else, it’s that quality of instruction that we see in the classroom that’s going to change the life of those students. Administrators want to make sure the tools are in place so that we can do more and more strong professional development,” Tomalis said.
Tomalis said there must also be pension reform, though it might not happen simultaneously with the adoption of the 2013-14 budget. The state Constitution requires that a balanced budget be adopted by June 30. The fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30 of the following year.
“We are, today, spending record amounts of state funding on K-12 public education. We’re at a level we’ve never been before. A lot of those dollars are dedicated to our obligations to meet the pension requirements. We may see a $500 million-a-year increase to meet those pension requirements if we don’t get changes to pension reform,” the education secretary said.
The Public School Employees’ Retirement System, known as PSERS, has seen its annual pension line jump from $260 million in 2011, Tomalis said, to $800 million now. Without pension reform, he said the system’s pension budget line would soon balloon to $1.2 billion.
Corbett has suffered politically with his past two education budgets, but Tomalis argued that the Republican governor has done what he could to offset dramatic drops in the economy and the disappearance of federal stimulus dollars. He said the lack of stimulus, the pension explosion, and the drop in state revenue were “whammies.”
“The biggest cut in public education funding that happened in PA happened two years before the governor took office. The governor increased the funding to basic education to get back to the pre-stimulus level in the first year but in addition to that we had the pension obligations,” Tomalis said.
“Now, we see the changes in the revenue coming in because of the changes in the economy and the governor wants to support, and is going to be supporting, increased commitments to pub education all across the board,” he said.
10 comments:
http://www.hark.com/fletch/i-think-our-problems-may-just-be-solved
Our State Basic Education Funding is about $3 million. Even if it goes up a hefty 10% (which seems unlikely), that's an increase of about $300,000. A good chunk of change, but it doesn't close a $1 million deficit.
Oh, is the good news that he's going to give back a little bit of the money he cut last year to try to improve his approval rating?
Many Republicans emphatically state that the federal stimulus was useless. Yet over and over again, I hear Republican elected officials like Corbett and Tomalis using the lack of stimulus (which was meant to be temporary not permanent) as an excuse for their funding woes. What gives?
Close to 400,000 for Manor Park, Tech School Litigation cost, Yonson Buyout, 2 Million Dollar Loan fee, 2 Million Dollars to give loan back, Don Harm Salary,Promotions for Mrs. B, Pat Wandling Salary, paid Business office intern over summer, And other poor monetary decisions. But God forbid if we raise taxes because of the previos Boards poor decisions and the Superintendant letting it happen, OUR EDUCATIONAL LEADER Bill Ferrara. I'm going to sip on a water to think about this one, oh, there isn't any supplied. Maryls get up and go to the water fountain in the hall if you are thirsty our better yet bring your own.
Fund balance down to fumes too. Yeah, let's take options off the table up front.
Just a suggestion, but can you stop paying more people and get in more losing lawsuits? I think that will help.
Marlys embodies the core SOC tenet of personal responsibility, and breaking away from that initiative sapping sense of entitlement that so many "takers" have.
That's why School Board President Damon Miller is personally responsible for Marlys Mihok's hydrational needs.
Understand?
I look at Corbett and see he's just buying off voters because his poll ratings are deep in the toilet. Didn't Mitt Romney warn us against leaders buying votes with taxpayer money?
“Every Corbett voter may not be religious, but they believe in Santa Claus. And you know what else they believe about Santa Claus? That Santa Claus doesn’t judge anybody. You’re gonna get your stuff no matter how you behave. You’re gonna get your stuff whether you’re a good guy, bad guy, or a non-entity. Santa Claus isn’t judgmental. In fact, Santa Claus loves you because you have the deck stacked against you.”
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