30 Ways in 30 Days: Education Funding

Senate Budget Would Cut State Education Aid for First Time

Senate Bill 850 proposes the first ever cut in state support for basic education, slashing state aid by more than $700 million from what Governor Rendell proposed in February, raising the specter of property tax increases.

HARRISBURG (June 9, 2009) - A budget plan approved by the state Senate would for the first time in Pennsylvania's history cut state aid to basic education, slashing nearly $730 million in state aid from Governor Ed Rendell's proposed budget and setting the stage for local property tax increases.

The specter of increased property taxes comes during one of the worst economic downturns in recent Pennsylvania history and has some school districts fearful of what will happen next. All school districts are required to adopt budgets for the new school year before the end of the current one, and most have used funding estimates provided by the governor.

Governor Ed Rendell proposed a $418 million increase to basic education funding using federal stimulus funds, but the Senate plan eliminates that increase and flat funds basic education funding at 2008-09 levels. The $418 million increase for basic education is the second installment in a six-year plan to more fairly fund public education, in accordance with the Legislature's Costing Out Study.

The Senate plan relies more heavily on federal stimulus money to fund education than Governor Rendell's proposed budget.  In two years, when federal stimulus dollars disappear, the state would have to restore $729 million in basic education funding just to get back to 2008-09 levels - not to the funding targets for 2011-12.

"It circumvents the whole intent of the stimulus act," Palmyra Area Schools Superintendent Larry Schmidt told the Patriot-News of Harrisburg last month, noting that under Senate Bill 850 the district would get $439,000 less in federal stimulus money than originally expected.

"What the state Senate has done is, in effect, turn school district budgets into ticking time bombs," said Randy King, a member of the Harrisburg School Board.  "In their haste to fix the state's money problems, they have outsourced those same problems to local school boards, who will have little choice but to raise taxes."

Drastically reduced education funding at the state level will also cause school districts to run head-long into Act 1 of 2006, which would force local referendums for any proposed property tax increase above the cost of inflation.  If these referendums fail, schools may be forced to raise property taxes by a nominal amount, and then slash education services at the same time, King explained.

Palmyra Area Schools Superintendent Larry Schmidt can be reached at 717-838-3144 or by email at larry_schmidt@pasd.us. Harrisburg School Board member Randy King can be reached at 717-238-2970 or by email at rking@triadstrategies.com.

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