AP: Budget deal near with higher sales tax, more school funding
By MARC LEVY and MARK SCOLFORO
The Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A potential deal to break Pennsylvania’s budget stalemate in its fifth month includes a state sales tax increase, expanded school property tax cuts and hundreds of millions of new dollars for public schools, top state lawmakers said Monday.
Gov. Tom Wolf’s office said the new money for public schools amounted to a record increase, a major priority of his, even if the first-term Democrat had made major concessions in other areas, such as losing his fight to impose a tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas production.
It also appeared that Wolf would get at least a portion of the multibillion-dollar state tax increase that he had sought to help correct a long-term deficit and transform a school funding system that harbors huge disparities between rich and poor districts.
Meanwhile, the Legislature’s huge Republican majorities made headway on their goal of imposing major pension changes for future state and school employees, while plans to privatize some or all of the state-controlled wine and liquor system remained up in the air.
Many other crucial details were unresolved Monday and negotiators said a final agreement would not be in place until all of its elements get settled.
“Nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to,” said Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre. “We’re trying to put a framework together that will move us forward to get to a final agreement.”
Still, disagreements remained about the extent of settled details. For instance, Wolf’s office said it had secured an agreement for $750 million in new dollars over two years for public schools, special education and pre-kindergarten programs. Republican lawmakers disputed some elements of that assertion.
The parties did agree, however, that public schools would get $350 million in new money for instruction and operations, a 6 percent increase to about $6.1 billion. Wolf had originally sought $400 million.
Ironing out those details and passing legislation could require several more weeks.
“There’s a lot of second-, third- and fourth-tier decisions that need to be made,” said House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana.
Under the preliminary deal, state spending would rise to $30.7 billion, up about 6 percent from last year’s approved budget. It would be boosted by about $500 million in slot-machine gambling revenue that is currently passed along to homeowners as school property tax cuts. That money would be diverted into a restricted account to pay for public school employee pension obligations.
The loss of that money for school property tax cuts would be replaced by about $2 billion expected from a state sales tax increase to 7.25 percent, up from the current 6 percent. The rate would rise to 8.25 percent in Allegheny County, where it is currently 7 percent, and to 9.25 percent in Philadelphia, where it is currently 8 percent.
Amid staunch Republican opposition, a deal would not include a new tax on Marcellus Shale production that Wolf had sought. Tax increases on cigarettes and on banks were still under discussion.
There was no agreement on how new money for schools and property tax cuts would be distributed to each district, an issue that the governor’s office has said is of “critical importance.” Meanwhile, negotiators were discussing measures to further limit the ability of school boards to raise taxes as part of the package of new money.
Read the full article here.
NBC 10: School Ending Pre-K Over Lack of Budget
Pre-K Counts is just one of many programs in Pennsylvania that have had to shut down because of the state budget stalemate. NBC10’s Lauren Mayk reports with how workers are trying to keep their programs running amid the funding freeze.
Read more here.
Express-Times LTE: PA Should Boost Pre-K Program Funding
As an educator of young children in a Pre-K Counts Program, I have seen firsthand how it can help young learners from the start. The programs and opportunities provided to these children have broadened their horizons and have encouraged their learning in many ways.
Children who are encouraged to learn as young children grow into school age learners; they have excitement about learning and have a solid foundation upon which to build.
In the current economic setting we can only reach so many children, and we could reach so many more children and provide more educational opportunities if the state would increase the funding for high quality pre-K programs.
I hope the lawmakers and Gov. Wolf can work together to create a budget that expands access to high-quality pre-K as much as possible so more children can benefit the way my current students are benefiting from the program.
Johanna Andresen
Easton
Read the Letter here.
Altoona Mirror: Pre-k Programs Facing Shutdown
Pa. budget impasse straining funding that supports low-income families
November 2, 2015
By Russ O’Reilly
If the state government’s budget impasse crawls through the next two months, pre-kindergarten students from low-income families could see programs shut down, child care directors said.
The PA Pre-K Counts program is unfunded because of the 120-plus day budget stalemate between the state’s Democratic governor, Tom Wolf, and Republican legislators.
“It is extremely difficult to operate ‘state-funded’ early-learning classrooms with no state funding,” said Louise Ketner, executive director of Huntingdon County Child and Adult Development Corp.
Pre-K Counts classrooms are open to children eligible by family income. Statewide, Pre-K Counts classrooms serve nearly 14,000 children.
The Huntingdon agency has already closed its adult education and family literacy programs, and it is currently attempting to secure a third loan to keep its pre-kindergarten program operating.
Employees and families made sacrifices to operate Head Start and Pre-K Counts programs administered by Child Advocates of Blair County Inc., said Erica Peterson, the agency’s planning and development specialist.
Between its Pre-K Counts and state-funded Head Start programs, 110 children weren’t able to start classes until Oct. 13 – five weeks later than planned.
The agency’s board of directors authorized the use of a line of credit to start state-funded programs.
“We can’t keep running on credit,” Peterson said.
That line of credit will only last until Dec. 31, she said.
“We are looking to have to shut down if a budget isn’t passed and state funds aren’t received by then,” she said.
In addition, the line of credit used will result in an interest charge that will be taken from the agency’s 2015-16 budget, penalizing the agency for trying to be proactive and providing services to children and families, she said.
About 60 percent of children in Blair County do not have access to quality pre-K education, according to figures from the Pre-K for PA coalition. And the impasse is making it more difficult for families, said Jolie Cover, executive director of Begin With Us Child Care and Preschool in Altoona.
“We have 60 students in Pre-K Counts classrooms, and 20 children are on a waiting list,” she said.
The agency can’t establish another classroom without state funding, she said.
For now, the school is operating on a line of credit and will have to pay back interest.
Read the full article here.
AP: Budget Standoff Spreads Woe
Written by The Associated Press
HARRISBURG — State-subsidized pre-kindergarten programs are shutting down, domestic violence shelters are closing their doors and Pennsylvania’s school districts are begging for more time to pay their bills — all because of a four-month budget stalemate that shows no signs of ending.
County governments and local school boards waiting on billions in state aid are burning through loans and emptying reserves. Some social services organizations are shuttering programs and laying off hundreds of workers who care for the state’s most vulnerable populations.
Even for Pennsylvania — a state that’s seen its share of knockdown, drag-out partisan fights — this one is particularly worrisome.
“It’s a bunch of crap, to be honest with you,” said Kathy Moyer, who was told her 4-year-old son Jake would attend his last day of pre-kindergarten Friday at the Growing Place in Brodheadsville, before other nonprofits came to the rescue to keep it open — for now.
The governor, Tom Wolf, is a first-term Democrat and former businessman unaccustomed to political deal-making who wants a multibillion-dollar tax increase to correct a long-term deficit and narrow a funding disparity between rich and poor school districts considered to be among the nation’s widest.
The Legislature’s large, entrenched Republican majorities have not budged on a tax increase. Separately, Republicans have pressed Wolf to agree to two of their top priorities: ending the traditional state pension benefit plan and the state-controlled wine and liquor system. Wolf opposes those moves.
The dispute leaves Pennsylvania as only one of two states — Illinois is the other — that hasn’t agreed on a budget yet. Each side has sniffed at the other’s grudging concessions as meager, and every day that ticks by brings more bad news.
Two shelters for domestic violence victims closed their doors to new arrivals Friday, citing the lack of state aid. A state-subsidized pre-K program at Riverview Children’s Center in the Pittsburgh suburb of Verona closed down, too.
A fellow class of Riverview pre-kindergarteners signed their teacher’s open letter to state policymakers: “We aren’t allowed to play until we solve our problems. The budget stalemate is a BIG PROBLEM. Are you working on the problem?”
Pennsylvania has seen stalemates before — most notably in 1991, 2003 and 2009 — but this is different: Public school advocates and social services providers say they are in more desperate straits now after post-Recession funding cuts enacted by Republicans.
It’s also a quieter crisis.
Under a 2009 court ruling, state employees can be paid and kept on the job, meaning that no state functions — such as prisons, highway patrols, state parks or driver license centers — are shut down, although money for expenses from travel to toilet paper is scarce and utilities and other contractors are going unpaid.
Other provisions in federal or state law allow Medicaid, unemployment compensation and debt payments to be made.
Education officials wonder when the first school district will decide to shut down to send a signal to Harrisburg. People who deal with the vulnerable wonder if someone has to die first.
Read the full article here.
