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.
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.
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.
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.
