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.
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.
York Daily Record: Op-ed: On Budget Impasse, Your Voice Matters
As an advocate for early childhood education, I am traveling the state hearing stories about how the state budget impasse is affecting children and families. Recently, I was in Huntingdon County at a Head Start classroom. The center was forced to secure two bridge loans to keep these state-funded classrooms open. This funding will last through Thanksgiving, then their doors will close to the 120 children and families they serve, and people will be laid off.
Stories like these are playing out in every county in Pennsylvania. Parents and teachers are frustrated, worried and ask me what can we do?
You can do something. Use your voice and let your legislators and the governor know what’s important to you.
Every legislator tells me they need to hear from their constituents about what matters to them. Republicans, Democrats, leadership, rank-and-file members; all need to be contacted. Ask your legislators to go to their leadership with your concerns.
Don’t worry if you can’t talk to your legislator directly. They will be updated by their staff on the issues their constituents are concerned about.
Through my travels I have heard your voice saying, “We need a budget, the right budget that moves the needle on serving more of the roughly 200,000 3 and 4-year-olds without access to high quality pre-k.” Call, email or visit your legislators’ offices. Tell them your story like you have told me. Tell them that all of Pennsylvania’s young children deserve access to high quality pre-k and that begins with $120 million more in funding in a final state budget.
Give them the evidence: 90 percent of a person’s brain develops by the age of 5. People learn their entire lives, but the connections in the brain that help you learn later are made during the first five years.
Whether you care about crime prevention, national security, the economy or K-12 funding, you should support investing in high-quality pre-k. Pennsylvania’s district attorneys, chiefs of police and sheriffs who are part of Fight Crime: Invest In Kids see investing in pre-k as a crime prevention strategy. Children who attend high-quality pre-k are dramatically less likely to be engaged in later crime, are better prepared for school and have positive opportunities later. Retired generals and admirals that are part of Mission: Readiness: they see pre-k as part of the long term solution to correct the shocking statistic that 70 percent of young people do not qualify for military service. Business organizations like The Economy League of Greater Philadelphia say investing in high-quality pre-k helps current and future workforce development. Children that attend are up to 44 percent more likely to graduate high school. And an immediate return of almost $2 for every dollar invested and a long term return of almost $17 for every dollar invested.
I have heard your voice, now let your legislators and Gov. Wolf know.
Your voice matters.
Stephanie Siegel-Mock is the director of public policy and outreach for the Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children and the outreach coordinator for the Pennsylvania Head Start Association.
WPXI: Pre-K programs closing due to Pennsylvania budget battle
HARRISBURG, Pa. — 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.
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.
“Right now we are facing an emergency,” said Natalia Rudiak, a member of the Pittsburgh City Council. “Right now these centers are literally shutting their doors.”
The list includes Riverview Children’s Center in Verona, which has closed. Many others like Smart Kids Childcare in Washington County are on the verge of closing.
“We have already exhausted one line of credit loan,” said Susan Buffton, who is with the Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center.
This year’s prolonged budget impasse has blown past the 101 day-stalemate of 2009 — Friday was the 122nd day — and around the state, layoffs are mounting because social and human services organizations have not gotten state funding that they counted on.
WGRZ: PA Budget Impasse Affects School and County Funding
McKean County, Pa. – For the past few years New York has been able to pass an on-time state budget thereby reversing years of late state budgets in Albany. But now our neighboring state of Penna. has gone four months without a budget agreement. And that’s taking a toll on schools and county government.
Classes are still in session at the Otto – Eldred School District in Penna. But the district’s $11 million dollar budget is running thin as 80 percent of its funding from both state and federal sources is locked up in Harrisburg. That is because the Republican majority state legislature and the Democratic Governor Tom Wolf are still wrangling over over Penna’s state budget and revenue sources like taxes and natural gas well fracking. The financial impasse is now heading into its fifth month and forcing school districts to take drastic steps to stay open.
Otto-Eldred School Superintendent Matthew Splain: “400 Million dollars has been borrowed so far in Penna. to keep schools running. Like knowing right now that the money that we’re due is sitting in Harrisburg awaiting to be appropriated for us is kinda frustrating. We have federal money that we have waiting for us.but they can’t release that as per their budget guidelines.”
As the Governor and top lawmakers negotiate, some Penna. school districts are even talking about shutting schools or asking teachers and staff to work without pay. Otto-Eldred is not at that point but they’re trying to make ends meet as options on a whiteboard in Splain’s office indicate. Even so Splain says they must meet certain education requirements. “We don’t have a choice. We just have to keep our doors open. We have to do the best job we can for our kids and our community. So we roll with the punches as best as we can.”
McKean County officials say they’ve taken a three million dollar hit in state funding and the Human Service sector is suffering like programs for the disabled and children. County Controller Tom Ball says “That funding stream has stopped so pre-K programs in the various counties across the commonwealth are being affected by it.”
Bradford Era: Pre-k Cuts Spare Area While Expansion is Needed, Expert Says
By COLIN DEPPEN
The closure of Pennsylvania Pre-K programs due to the ongoing state budget impasse in Harrisburg won’t impact the local four-county region, according to experts who say a possible expansion of Pre-K services found in competing budget proposals still on the floor might actually help children here.
The announcement made last week had Pre-K programs serving Pennsylvania children set to become the latest casualty of a bitter budget battle in the capital now into its fourth month, following non-profits and school districts with state funding already suspended or threatened by the deadlock.
According to reports, 19 early childhood learning centers certified under Pennsylvania’s state subsidized Pre-Kindergarten program are expected to close their doors by Nov. 10, with at least 800 children hanging in the balance. Those centers report having exhausted savings and low-interest loans to cover the gap while the budget delay leaves funding frozen.
The centers, funded through the state’s Pre-K Counts program, serve 14,000 children in total.
Of them, an estimated 161 live in the local four-county region — 15 in Cameron County; 65 in McKean County; 49 in Elk County; and 32 in Potter County, according to numbers provided by the state Department of Education.
None are expected to lose funding or access as a result of the budget fight.
In fact, Pre-K for Pa. Coalition spokeswoman, Kate Philips, said children in northcentral Pennsylvania could stand to benefit from contested budget proposals now on the floor, both of which contain funding increases for Pre-K programs: $30 million in the GOP’s budget and $120 million in that of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.
Philips said Wolf’s proposal would add as many as 14,000 new kids to Pre-K programs, while the GOP budget would add 3,500, adding any increase or expansion of services is welcomed.
The numbers are out of a total 204,406 children, ages three and four, in Pennsylvania, with 69 percent of them lacking access to Pre-K services currently, the Coalition reports.
According to numbers provided by Pre-K for Pa., the number of children unserved or underserved by Pre-K programs remains disproportionately high in northcentral Pennsylvania.
In McKean County, an estimated 59 percent or 591 children of a total 1,008, ages three and four, lack access to high-quality Pre-K, with nearly three-fourths of children in the age bracket living below 300 percent poverty here.
In Elk County, 77 percent or 520 of a total 671 children, ages three and four, did not have access to high quality Pre-K, with 67 percent of children in the age group living below 300 percent poverty.
In Potter County, 67 percent or 268 children of a total 400, ages three and four, did not have access to high quality Pre-K, with 72 percent of the age group there living below 300 percent poverty.
In Cameron County, 45 percent or 36 of 80 total children, ages three and four, didn’t have access to Pre-K, with 72 percent of children in the age group there living below 300 percent poverty.
“There is a large number of children not being served in (rural Pennsylvania),” Philips said.
“These are not just urban problems … Part of the conversation is about expanding access. There is a real need.”
Embroiled in budget talks, Republican legislators like Matt Gabler, R-DuBois, say their plan for a $30 million Pre-K funding hike amounts to “responsible budgeting based on real numbers,” while criticizing Wolf for income tax hikes they say will be necessary to fund his loftier ambitions.
“Our $30.2 billion balanced budget that passed the Legislature on June 30 provided responsible increased investment in schools, human services and other programs such as Pre-K Counts,” Gabler said.
