WENY TV: PA Budget Delay Affects Local Pre-K Programs
Wellsboro, P.A. (WENY) — Pennsylvania is only one of two states operating with no budget so far this fiscal year. Now in the 8th week past the deadline, area programs are starting to be impacted by the lack of funding.
More than $300,000 dollars, that is the price it is going to cost Bradford-Tioga Head Start to start on time given the delayed Pennsylvania State Budget.
“We decided, because we’ve done this before, we’ve had to close them before, this time around let’s get a line of credit that would support our programming until the state budget is approved and the funding would come forth,” said Executive Director, Jody Thomas. Democratic Governor Tom Wolf and Republican State Leaders remain at odds over the proposed $78.6 billion budget. Since it’s impasse not many local agencies have been affected, but with school right around the corner, many state funded early education programs are determining whether or not they can open.
“We see other programs that use other programs, other funding that they have, that they might be able to use for programming, and they are actually using that to stay open. So it’s money that could be used for other things that’s being used to keep the pre-k programs and there are some programs that are not opening right now,” said Stephanie Mock, a representative from Pre-K for PA. The Bradford-Tioga Head Start serves 400 out of the 14,000 enrolled children statewide. Even though the delayed budget is negatively impacting their programs, the proposed budget includes a $120 million increase in early childhood education.
Times-Leader: With state budget impasse, Head Start looks to borrow money to open on time
WILKES-BARRE — Lynn Biga, executive director of Luzerne County Head Start, said the agency will have to borrow money to be able to open on time and remain open.
The move comes as Head Start and other social services agencies await a budget resolve in Harrisburg where Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and Republican majorities in the legislature appear miles apart on an agreement.
The state has been without a budget since July 1 and Biga said securing a $500,000 line of credit with a 3.25 percent interest charge will allow Head Start to keep its state-funded programs open until mid-December.
Biga said the agency’s annual budget is between $10 million and $11 million. Most of that — all but $2 million — is federally funded. The state allocation is $2 million, Biga said, and the two cannot be mixed, even though the monies are used for the same services.
Head Start, celebrating its 50th year in Luzerne County, provides a pre-school program for children ages 3 and 4, and an in-home Early Head Start Program for children from birth to age 3. Biga said there are 1,136 children in Head Start programs and a waiting list of others who want to be involved.
“Our state grants have been approved,” she said, “with no actual dollars received.”
The line of credit, secured through PNC Bank, carried an interest rate of 3.25 percent which will have to be paid back. Biga said the interest will be paid from the state allocation, taking valued dollars away from programming and services.
Of the 232 Head Start employees, 32 positions are paid with state funding. If the budget stalemate continues through the fall and into winter, Biga said programs could be shut down and staff laid off until there is a resolve.
“It’s not a good situation,” she said. “But it’s better than not having our children here in session and staff signing up for unemployment.”
Biga said if programs are shut down, parents will face difficult decisions about how to care for their children. She said most parents have jobs and would have to pay for babysitters or quit their jobs.
She presented charts that show the positive outcomes the Head Start program brings to pre-schoolers. The charts indicated that students show marked improvement in cognitive skills, literacy, math, language, physical fitness and social-emotional areas.
“It’s hard not to worry,” Biga said. “We have no idea when a state budget will be passed.”
Keiri Concepcion, 31, of Wilkes-Barre, was at Head Start’s Beekman Street facility Wednesday to register her 3-year-old son, Jeremiah. Concepcion said her older son went through Head Start and has been doing well in school.
“If this program wasn’t here, I would have to hire a babysitter,” Concepcion said. “And my son wouldn’t learn like he does here and he wouldn’t be interacting with other children his age.”
Biga has reached out to State Rep. Aaron Kaufer, R-Kingston, for his help. Kaufer told her that Republicans have proposed Gov. Wolf restore line items that he and the GOP are in agreement with, but so far that option has not been agreed to.
“We’re approaching a desperate situation,” Biga said.
Carbon County Times News: Carbon Agencies Feel Budget Pinch
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
By CHRIS REBER creber@tnonline.com
Rachel Smith goes through the routine of preparing her classroom for students, even though they will be arriving a couple weeks later this year, thanks to the state budget impasse.
The Head Start teacher, based in Lehighton, came in on what was supposed to have been her first day of work to prepare her room and clean a fish tank.
But with the organization’s funding held up until a budget is passed, the nonprofit that runs the program has decided to push back the first day of school by two weeks from Aug. 31 to Sept. 14.
“Regardless of whether or not we’re starting, I’m here,” she said.
Head Start relies on state grants to fund its teaching positions.
Without a budget deal, no money has come out of Harrisburg since late June.
“I just want to get these kids back in here,” said Beth Ann Sheckler, who directs the Lehighton program. “At least when they were here, we knew they were happy, safe and full.”
Pathstone Carbon County Head Start is just one of several local agencies who are having to do without state funding while Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-led Legislature go back and forth on a 2015-16 budget.
Some of those providers shared their stories at a meeting Monday hosted by state Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon.
Vulnerable people
Many nonprofits have been forced to delay or modify programs. The organizations that are affected, in many cases, are the ones that help protect some of the state’s most vulnerable residents. While many residents feel no effect from the budget impasse, families with children enrolled in Head Start, the elderly, and those seeking treatment for addiction have noticed.
The United Way surveyed 312 organizations statewide and found that a quarter of them expect to curtail some of their services in August.
Instead of cutting or delaying their programs, some organizations, like the Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug & Alcohol Commission, are relying on credit.
Executive director Rick Mroczka said with the agency’s current line of credit, the program in Lehighton can continue to operate through October.
In the other two counties the agency serves, it is unable to pay care providers until the budget is passed.
The agency was also hoping to take advantage of new funding for new drug treatment programs with the 2015-16 budget, but now those programs are in limbo.
“There is a whole realm of effect that this budget is having on us,” Mroczka said.
A critical time
The gap in funding for drug treatment comes at a critical time, according to the commission’s treatment program manager Jamie Drake.
“With the immense heroin problem in the three-county area, we are getting bombarded. Our facility is at capacity,” she said.
Providers are worried without these programs in place, an unintended consequence could be social issues that the government will eventually have to pay for.
Sallianne Schatz, of Carbon County Children and Youth, said her department has not felt any funding crunch yet. But after hearing from the other providers, she was concerned about the direct effect it could have on the cases she sees.
“If drug and alcohol treatment get pushed back, if there are no services for adults, we could have more children in placement.”
Scranton Times-Tribune: Editorial: Clock Ticks on Education Legislators Don’t Miss a Payday
State leaders have spent the summer posturing about the state budget rather than adopting it. They have the luxury to do so. Even though there is no law establishing tax rates, taxes continue to be collected. Everyone in state government has been paid over the six weeks that the commonwealth has operated without a budget.
When the budget finally is passed, in effect it will be retroactive to July 1, the beginning of the fiscal year.
But for some citizens of Pennsylvania, the clock can’t be turned back. Young children cannot regain learning opportunities that are lost due to the failure of adult politicians to adopt a budget on time.
Even with a budget in force, only one in six Pennsylvania 3- and 4-year-olds has access to preschool. Republican lawmakers and Gov. Tom Wolf have proposed funding increases to make preschool somewhat more available, but even those marginal improvements can’t occur without a budget, and the opportunity could be lost forever to kids who are eligible now.
Mr. Wolf’s proposed budget includes $120 million in increases for pre-K access. Pre-K PA, which advocates early-learning programs, estimated that $400 million is needed over the next four years just to provide pre-kindergarten for children most at risk of academic failure. The Republican budget has countered with a $30 million increase.
Erie.com: Former Governor Schweiker calls for investment in pre-k
Former Governor Mark Schweiker opened the 2015 Kiwanis Early Education Summit, as part of the Pennsylvania District of Kiwanis International Annual convention at the Erie County Convention Center today with a continued call for significant investment in early learning and a repeated call to action to pre-k supporters.
“Stay energized, be intelligently persistent and we will be successful,” exclaimed former Governor Mark Schweiker to a crowd of about 300 Kiwanians and Pre-K for PA supporters. “There is a great impasse in Harrisburg, but I’m optimistic—I’m bullish about this. $120 million is a good start, which means 14,000 kids have a shot to get into a high-quality classroom. The intellectual and human and social development and opportunities for these kids is immense.”
The six-weeklong state budget impasse has left Pre-K Counts recipients without state funding, and a $120 million new pre-k investment hangs in the balance.
“We have a growing bipartisan coalition behind this,” said former Governor Schweiker. “This isn’t some off to the side political pursuit or a break the bank pursuit. We think it’s an affordable commitment. We’re talking $120 million in a general fund budget north of $29 billion. It’s not going to break the bank. I would argue in the out years that it’s going to save dollars.”
