WJET TV: United Way calls for investment in pre-k programs
By LEANNE STUCK
01/13 2016
ERIE, Pa.
The United Way of Erie County and Pre-K for PA team up to call for stronger state investments in pre-kindergarten programs.
A new report reveals that if more money is invested into pre-k programs, the state would be able to provide education for most at-risk children throughout the state.
The report reveals more than 40 percent of children in the commonwealth will benefit from the stronger investments.
The United Way and Pre-K for PA are calling on state representatives to make the changes in Harrisburg.
Read the full article here.
New Report Details How Pennsylvania Can Step Up Investments in High-Quality Pre-k
United Way of Erie Co., Other Philanthropies Stress Need to Reach More At-Risk Children
ERIE, PA (Jan. 13) – Pre-k advocates, including United Way officials, today called on Pennsylvania to increase its commitment to making high-quality pre-k more accessible to the commonwealth’s young learners, particularly those at greatest risk of academic failure due to economic disadvantages.
The push to increase pre-k access is bolstered by a new report – “The Case for Pre-k in PA: Smart Investment in Kids, Communities and the Commonwealth” – that outlines a multi-year investment strategy Pennsylvania can implement to provide high-quality pre-k to most at-risk children, as well as some middle-income children.
“High-quality pre-k has broad benefits for students, schools and communities, ranging from improving school readiness and graduation rates to reducing the need for special education services and criminal justice costs,” said Joan Benso, president and CEO of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, which produced the report. “Yet too few young learners are benefiting from this once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunity, and many of those missing out are at-risk kids.”
The report finds that if Pennsylvania were to increase state funding for high-quality pre-k gradually over this fiscal year and the following three years, we could make high-quality pre-k available to more than 40 percent of the commonwealth’s 3- and 4-year-olds, compared to fewer than 20 percent who benefited in 2013.
United Way of Erie County President Bill Jackson noted only about 30 percent of Erie County’s 3- and 4-year-olds – 2,125 out of 6,864 children – were in publicly funded, high-quality pre-k last year. More than 2,400 of the county children who missed out on pre-k are in lower income households, a factor that puts them at risk of academic failure.
“We know from research that high-quality pre-k can have the greatest benefits for these at-risk children in terms of preparing them for kindergarten and putting them on the solid road to success in school and beyond,” Jackson said.
United Way of Pennsylvania President Kristen Rotz noted many United Way affiliates across the commonwealth have made school readiness a priority issue, and high-quality pre-k is “among the best and most cost-effective initiatives for preparing children for success in school and beyond.”
“United Ways and other community-based philanthropic organizations have made great efforts over the years to promote high-quality pre-k as a critical part of developing well-educated children and strong communities,” Rotz said. “But as with so many efforts to strengthen communities, it takes a collaboration. In this case, we need the commonwealth to bolster its efforts to fund high-quality pre-k programs to reach those children who are missing out.”
The “Case for Pre-k in PA” report was prepared by Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (PPC), a founding partner of the statewide, nonpartisan Pre-K for PA campaign. The report and supporting information, including county-level data on pre-k access, can be found at www.papartnerships.org or www.prekforpa.org.
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Pre-K for PA Says Pre-Kindergarten Funding is a Good Start; Urges Legislature to Return to Work
Coalition says funding does not go far enough to address the more than 200,000 PA kids missing out on high-quality pre-k
HARRISBURG (December 29, 2015)—The Pre-K for PA campaign recognized today that the increased funding for high-quality pre-k programs that resulted from the adopted partial-year 2015-16 budget agreement is a good start, but urged the legislature to return to Harrisburg and deliver a full budget that adequately funds pre-k. The partial-year budget currently invests $25 million in new Pre-K Counts funding and $5 million in new funding for Head Start.
The principal partners of the nearly two-year-long campaign to increase funding for high-quality pre-k issued the following statement regarding this budget agreement:
“The release of funds and expansion will allow pre-k classrooms to remain open, reopen and serve some additional children for the remainder of the 2015-16 school year, but leaves too many kids behind during a crucial stage of their development. This represents a step in the right direction, but we remain hopeful that continued budget negotiations will yield additional funding in this school year to expand access to high-quality pre-k to more of the roughly 200,000 three- and four-year-olds in Pennsylvania without access.
“With such a broad and strong commitment by so many legislators and the Governor, our campaign remains cautiously optimistic that leaders in Harrisburg will continue to work together, both in this year and beyond, toward the goal of access to high-quality pre-k for all Pennsylvania three-and four-year-olds by 2019—ensuring that every child born today could benefit from at least one year of high-quality pre-k before he or she heads off to kindergarten. The Pre-K for PA campaign believes that high-quality pre-k should be accessible by all children with priority given to those most at-risk.”
Pre-K for PA was launched in 2014 with the vision that every 3- and 4-year-old in Pennsylvania will have access to high-quality pre-k. This statewide coalition includes: Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children; Economy League of Greater Philadelphia; Fight Crime: Invest in Kids; Mission: Readiness; Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children; Pennsylvania Head Start Association; Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children; Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children; Public Citizens for Children and Youth; and United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. www.prekforpa.org
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PennLive: Pennsylvania’s state budget talks, at loooonnnnng last, enter home stretch
By Charles Thompson
The six-month Pennsylvania state budget impasse – after months of political gridlock – is showing significant signs of breaking up.
That’s probably going to mean a tax increase for Pennsylvanians. (Negotiators from all sides are expected to meet this weekend to settle on a final mix of taxes and other income sources designed to raise $650 to $700 million in the current fiscal year; growing to more than $1 billion on a full-year basis.)
It will mean the single-biggest raw dollar increase in aid to public schools that this state has ever seen, plus significant boosts to aid for higher education.
And it’s possible that it may make some cultural history by bringing along a plan that, for the first time since creation of the state-owned liquor stores, would allow an adult to buy a bottle of wine at a supermarket or restaurant.
Now comes the hard part.
Budget negotiators from Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration and the Legislature’s Republican majorities have to closet themselves over the next few days to iron the last remaining hurdles that will turn this framework into a final deal.
And then, they have to sell the components of said deal to members in the state Senate and House, where the majority Republican caucus as recently as Tuesday took what may have been a last, final symbolic stand against increases in one of the state’s broad-based taxes.
One thing’s clear: collectively, the players – and everyone waiting on them – are a lot closer to a finalized, $30.8 billion spending plan then at any other time this year, and that’s created a palpable sense of anticipation.
“It’s pretty locked down, I think,” Dave Thomas, chief counsel to Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre County, said Thursday night.
That seemed remarkable in itself coming just two days after the House Republican caucus bolted from the so-called framework agreement announced on Nov. 10 and passed, with only GOP votes, a $30.3 billion plan that would require less in new taxes.
Rank-and-file Republicans said then they were angered at having to consider the possibility of raising taxes when they were settling than they had initially wanted in the areas of public pension and liquor reforms.
But after failing to pick up any Democratic votes in the House, and failing to budge the Senate Republican majority from the larger deal, House GOP leaders came back to the framework table Wednesday night.
Final votes could be cast at some point next week.
Here’s an assessment at the some of the remaining issues that must be ironed out (or avoided) before Wolf can sign his first budget.
The taxes:
Expect a free-wheeling discussion this weekend over the final mix of taxes to balance the budget. Leaders reached Friday all balked at giving their personal preferences.
“I think all four caucuses and the administration need to be part of that discussion and we need to come to a conclusion on that before any of the bills start flying,” said House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana County.
But sources close to the talks said Friday a number of options have been floated in the last week, including potential increases in either the state’s 6 percent and 3.07 percent personal income tax rates.
Wolf already proposed an income tax increase, coupled with a new tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas production, that was voted down in the House earlier this fall.
If that kind of broad-based tax is the play, it’s a once-a-decade type move that could be a very tough sell in the Legislature, particularly the state House where all 203 seats are up for election in 2016.
About the only thing that seems certain right now is some type of increase in Pennsylvania’s cigarette taxes.
Reed did say Thursday that GOP leaders will still attempt to negotiate for lower spending in the budget, but Wolf warned this week that he considers the current proposed spending level fundamental to the agreement.
“The budget that we all agreed to is $30.8 billion,” Wolf said, after a public appearance in Harrisburg.
Read the full article here.
AP: Pa. budget stalemate cost approaches critical mass
The collapse of a second agreement between Gov. Tom Wolf and top lawmakers threatens to extend the state government budget stalemate deeper into December, its sixth month. Here is the impact to date:
Layoffs: In October, a United Way of Pennsylvania survey of 282 organizations reported almost 700 employees had been furloughed, seen hours reduced or worked without pay. More than 500 others lost employee benefits, the United Way said. This week, the Easter Seals chapter for central and western Pennsylvania laid off 22 people and the rest of the staff – some 300 people – will take salary reductions of up to 30 percent.
School district borrowing: School district borrowing has hit $900 million, according to state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale. Philadelphia alone has borrowed $525 million, while other major districts taking out loans include Allentown, Erie and Scranton.
Pre-kindergarten programs: Today, a Pittsburgh early childhood center that educates 100 children under Pennsylvania’s state-subsidized pre-kindergarten program will close its doors, according to the Pre-K for PA coalition. Through the start of December, 15 had closed, according to the state Department of Education, affecting 538 children from low-income families enrolled in the programs.
Domestic violence shelters: Many shelters for victims of domestic violence have closed to new arrivals after hitting capacity or laying off staff to save money, according to Peg Dierkers of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence. State assistance to help domestic violence victims afford a new place to live is cut off, making it harder for shelters to open beds, Dierkers says.
Schools might close: With hopes fading for a budget resolution this week, talk among some school boards is turning again to closing down – several districts briefly considered it in September or October – as they face the prospect of taking out new loans to stay open. Some school boards, including Greenville’s and Burgettstown Area in western Pennsylvania, are considering keeping schools closed after the holidays.
Read the full article here.
