Senator cautions that Pennsylvania could lose out on additional federal funding if it does not invest stimulus dollars in educational gains
HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania must properly use federal stimulus funding to continue its targeted investments in student achievement and to avoid local property tax increases, Education Secretary Gerald L. Zahorchak and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. said yesterday during a visit to East Pennsboro High School in Cumberland County.
Zahorchak and Casey cautioned that Senate Bill 850, a budget plan proposed and approved last month by Senate Republicans, would squander the opportunity to use stimulus funds to improve Pennsylvania’s schools and result in a $728 million hole in the state’s basic education subsidy when stimulus funds expire in two years. The Senate plan would set the stage for local tax hikes and school program cuts, ultimately putting Pennsylvania $1.2 billion behind the goals established in law last year as part of a six-year school funding formula.
“President Obama and Congress intended for states to use stimulus funding to bolster educational progress, not to allow for the siphoning of education dollars that would slow or halt that progress,” Zahorchak said.
U.S. Senator Casey said Senate Bill 850 undermines the purpose of federal stimulus funds for education, which are intended to increase educational investments rather than merely shift money to other parts of the state budget.
The Senate spending plan not only shortchanges schools in the coming year, he said, but it also threatens to knock Pennsylvania out of the running for billions in federal stimulus dollars in future years.
One component of the federal stimulus package is a $5 billion “Race to the Top” fund. This money will be distributed to states during a later phase of stimulus funding based on how well states use the current round of stimulus money to boost student achievement.
“Simply put, if we use stimulus funds now in the way Governor Rendell has proposed – and as federal officials intended – we could later reap hundreds of millions more to invest in student achievement,” Zahorchak said. “But if we use those funds the way some lawmakers have suggested – to merely maintain the status quo instead of further advancing innovative education reforms – we will lose out, and so will our children.”
Zahorchak and Casey were joined at East Pennsboro by local education leaders and taxpayers as they kicked off a week-long set of visits with superintendents, school board members, teachers, parents and other community members and elected officials in more than a dozen school districts to discuss the importance of adequate school funding.
Rendell’s proposed 2009-10 budget recognizes that education is, at its core, an economic development tool. The governor’s plan contains difficult cuts that will ensure a balanced budget overall, while continuing the commonwealth’s record investments in education as part of a long-term economic recovery strategy.
Rendell’s education budget:
• Properly invests federal stimulus funds to avoid property tax hikes and teacher layoffs and to accelerate our gains in student achievement.
• Fulfills Pennsylvania’s commitment to year two of a landmark school funding formula meant to ensure all schools have the resources needed for student success.
• Builds on Pennsylvania’s momentum in several programs proven to increase student learning, including early childhood education, high school reform and increased instructional time.
The Governor’s proposal is a stark contrast to an education spending plan offered by the Senate, which threatens to halt the commonwealth’s academic progress and result in higher property taxes and cuts in school programs and staff.
The detrimental impacts of Senate Bill 850 would include:
• Elimination of the $418 million proposed basic education funding increase that would enable districts to avoid property tax increases while helping to reach the adequate resource levels identified in the General Assembly’s Costing-Out Report.
• Elimination of $317 million in federal stimulus funds that were intended by the president and Congress as one-time grants to enable school districts to invest in educational improvement strategies and school modernization.
• Creation of a $728 million hole in the state’s basic education subsidy that will result in tax increases and program cuts, and put Pennsylvania $1.2 billion behind in its school funding goals.
• The removal of an additional $336 million from the Governor’s proposed 2009-10 pre-K-12 budget, including major cuts to charter school reimbursement, pre-kindergarten, Head Start and high school reform, and the total elimination of programs proven to be successful such as Classrooms for the Future, Dual Enrollment and Science: It’s Elementary.
“Adequate funding of our schools is always crucial, but perhaps never more so than during difficult economic times like these,” Zahorchak said. “The path we take in Pennsylvania’s education budget will determine whether we continue to build on our success or we stagnate while other states and nations move ahead.”
For more information on Pennsylvania’s education budget, visit the Department of Education Web site.