Tribune-Review: Preschools to close amid Pennsylvania budget impasse
By Natasha Lindstrom
Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015
Cash-strapped preschool providers across Pennsylvania are halting classes as early as Friday, making early childhood education one of the first, major casualties of a state budget impasse approaching its fifth month.
“When it’s getting into November, it’s exceptionally frustrating,” said Darlene Bigler, CEO of Community Action Southwest, a human service agency that runs preschool programs for more than 300 children in Washington and Greene counties. “Our clients are concerned that their services are going to be cut, my employees are concerned that they may end up being laid off. It makes it very difficult to focus on quality programming and the future.”
The state has not paid school districts or nonprofit providers since July 1, forcing organizations to exhaust reserves and borrow money.
Nearly 900 children enrolled in pre-kindergarten programs subsidized by Pennsylvania’s Pre-K Counts program stand to be displaced from their classrooms before lawmakers reconvene in Harrisburg in coming weeks. Another 1,345 children would be affected if the budget stalemate isn’t resolved by Dec. 30, according to the Pre-K for PA coalition.
SmartKids Childcare and Learning Center in Washington County is on the brink of closing. Riverview Children’s Center in Verona is stopping one of its four preschool programs Friday. The class of about 14 children meets at Verner Elementary School.
“It was a very, very sad day to have to inform our families that we were going to temporarily close that classroom — very temporarily, we hope,” said Betty Lisowski, executive director of Riverview Children’s Center, which the state owes $133,000 — about 11 percent of its $1.2 million budget. Preschool providers say they have staved off closures as long as they can.
“We took out a significant line of credit, with interest, of course, and we had to cut back the wages of the staff,” said Rebecca Faulk, agency director of Ligonier Valley Learning Center, which is owed about $80,000 for preschool programs serving about 65 children. “We had to hold some payments to vendors; we had to notify our landlord that some of their payments are going to be late.”
Statewide, at least 19 preschool providers told advocates they will close by Nov. 10 — a week before the state Senate returns to Harrisburg to resume its voting session.
“A lot of these private providers had to take out interest-bearing loans, and those are drying up,” said Cara Ciminillo, interim executive director of Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children. “Some providers have talked about employees working for free, in hopes that the impasse will just end, and then at the end they can start to become whole again.”
Sixteen more providers confirmed they will close if a budget is not in place by the end of December.
“We know this is a lower count than the actual number, because most providers are very reluctant to talk about closing because it has a ripple effect,” Ciminillo said.
Mayor Bill Peduto and Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak are set to join advocates, providers and parents in discussing the dilemma during a press conference Friday morning in the City-County Building, Downtown.
The state owes Community Action Southwest about $1.5 million in Pre-K Counts funding for 265 children, plus a couple hundred thousand of dollars for the state portion of its Head Start preschool program of 84 students.
“So far, we’ve been able to survive from our reserves, but that means that we’ve had to take things from money market accounts and lose interest,” Bigler said. “At this point we are day to day.”
McKeesport Area School District Superintendent Rula Skezas warned lawmakers Wednesday that her district is contemplating eliminating preschool — along with after-school programs and athletics.
Read the full article here.
KYW: PA Lawmakers Wrangle Over Budget, Some Education Programs in Limbo
October 27, 2015 By Cherri Gregg
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Pennsylvania lawmakers have spent months wrangling over the budget and the impact of the impasse is being felt statewide. The stalemate could have long-term effects on some of the state’s most vulnerable.
“We are continuing to be very hopeful that the budget will pass,” says Kathleen Brown McHale.
Hope is a word she clings to these days. McHale is president of SPIN, a non-profit that provides disability services and early childhood education to about 3200 people statewide. The group invested $400,000 over the summer renovating a new state-of-the-art Pre-K facility on Dunks Ferry Road. With six classrooms, its purpose is to serve 100 children in an area of the Northeast in need of early childcare services. Their efforts are on schedule– SPIN has purchased desks and chairs and books and toys. They’ve even hired teachers, but there’s no funds to pay them. SPIN’s newest facility is dependent on a budget proposal that allots $120 million additional state tax dollars for Pre-K and Headstart. Because SPIN’s facility is new and the budget is still up in the air, McHale says they have no choice but to keep their doors shuttered.
“Here we are at the end of October, we’re all ready to go,” says McHale, “but the children aren’t here.”
It’s not because there are no children. SPIN has signed up dozens of families, but they must wait until the budget in Harrisburg is passed by the legislature. In the meantime, SPIN’s older programs are struggling as well. McHale says they’re paying teachers and keeping the lights on thanks to a line of credit.
“It’s very, very tight,” she says. “It’s hurting us. We didn’t have much money before- but now, it’s getting worse.”
McHale claims they’re losing $35,000 a month and it’s unclear how they’ll close the gap if the stalemate continues. In the meantime they’ll keep going, but it’s a luxury some smaller facilities just don’t have.
“Some of the smaller facilities are asking their teachers to work for no pay, others are considering closing and still others are taking on low-interest loans,” says Kate Phillips, spokesperson for Pre-K for PA Coalition. “There could be long-term impact in terms of quality.”
Phillips says some facilities may be forced to cut corners as funding options dwindle. For families on the outside, the wait is difficult.
Read the full article here.
Education Week: Some State Preschools Set to Close Under Pa. Budget Stalemate
By Lillian Mongeau on October 26, 2015
Apparently, preschool doesn’t count enough to keep the doors of Pennsylvania’s Pre-K Counts state preschool program open in some communities more than 100 days into a budget stalemate there.
If nothing changes, programs responsible for educating 800 children will have closed their doors by Nov. 10, according to an AP story that ran on Oct. 26 in The Reading Eagle. That’s about 5 percent of the total of 14,000 children who are served by Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts statewide.
Early results for the program were strong, according to a 2012-13 report found on the program’s website. “The percentage of 4-year olds with proficient academic and social skills tripled to 82 percent after participating in PA Pre-K Counts programs in 2012-13,” the report states. No more recent data is included on the site.
There is nothing special about Pennsylvania’s preschool predicament. Programs of all kinds across the state have been shut down or curtailed and hundreds of employees have either been furloughed or lost their benefits.
Read the full article here.
Philly Voice: Pennsylvania budget battle threatens to close pre-K programs
Layoffs begin to affect state services as impasse nears fifth month
BY MICHAEL TANENBAUM
PhillyVoice Staff
As Pennsylvania’s budget stalemate nears the 5-month mark, state-subsidized pre-kindergarten programs across the Commonwealth are in danger of shutting down, school advocates said Friday.
A spokeswoman for the coalition Pre-K for PA, Kate Phillips, told the Associated Press that organizations responsible for educating at least 800 children will close their doors by November 10 if funding is not secured. Meanwhile, more than 14,000 children served by the state’s Pre-K Counts program for low-income families could soon be impacted by the ongoing impasse.
Friday marked Pennsylvania’s 115th day without a budget, well beyond the 101 days that nearly crippled the state in 2009. Already, layoffs are beginning to affect social and human services organizations whose programs rely on state funding to assist the elderly, the homeless and victims of domestic violence.
Statewide, school districts and counties have established cash conservancy methods and taken out loans to make up for the deficit in state funds. The Philadelphia School District has not received approximately $400 million from the state as a result of the impasse, according to district spokesman Fernando Gallard. It has taken out $275 million in short-term loans to maintain the cash flow necessary to operate.
Read the full article here.
ABC News: Pre-K Programs May Close Due to Pennsylvania Budget Battle
By MARC LEVY, ASSOCIATED PRESS
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Oct 23, 2015
Some early childhood centers certified under Pennsylvania’s state-subsidized pre-kindergarten program are starting to tell parents that they will close because of the state’s four-month-old budget stalemate, advocates said Friday.
Kate Philips, a spokeswoman for the Pre-K for PA coalition, said that organizations closing their doors by Nov. 10 educate at least 800 children in the state’s Pre-K Counts program. Children from low-income families qualify for Pre-K Counts, which serves nearly 14,000 children.
This year’s prolonged budget impasse has blown past the 101 day-stalemate of 2009 — Friday was the 115th day — and around the state, layoffs are mounting because social and human services organizations have not gotten state funding that they counted on.
A United Way of Pennsylvania survey of 282 organizations through Oct. 11 reported almost 700 employees who have been furloughed, had hours reduced or worked without pay. More than 500 others lost employee benefits, the United Way said.
School districts and counties are taking out loans, tapping reserves or letting bills pile up. Programs in some areas are piling up waiting lists, including in-home domestic help for the elderly and relocation aid for domestic violence victims or the homeless.
In northeastern Pennsylvania, the Growing Place in Brodheadsville sent a letter home Thursday to Pre-K Counts parents that it is closing the program after next Friday and will not reopen until a budget is passed.
Read the full article here.
