Patriot News: Those hardest hit by latest Pa. state budget veto says there’s enough blame for everybody
By Charles Thompson
The next best chance to ease the squeeze from Pennsylvania’s protracted state budget stalemate fizzled Tuesday when Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed an emergency stopgap funding bill.
It sets up a situation, statewide, where a budget stalemate that’s been invisible for most Pennsylvanians to date could soon start hitting a lot more of us in ways large and small.
Consider:
* In Carbondale, the school board has authorized the superintendent to explore a temporary closure of schools.
* In Harrisburg, some pre-kindergarten classes are being cancelled.
* In Scranton, mid-day meals at senior centers may be suspended.
* In various counties across the state, supports to families with adult children with intellectual disabilities are being eroded, and key learning opportunities for children from birth to age five with development delays are threatened.
There’s a rising tide of anger and frustration, to be sure.
But most human service providers who will be among the first to feel the effects of Tuesday’s veto seemed inclined to blame both Wolf, the veto-maker, and the state legislators he’s negotiating with for their troubles.
“I understand the fight for more money,” Gina Barkley, administrator of Bright Futures Learning Center of Harrisburg, said of Wolf’s veto Tuesday afternoon.
“But it feels like nobody considered that we would be the carnage in the meantime. It (the veto) is like a slap in the face, and I’m also offended that the senators and representatives are still getting paid while we work and we don’t get paid.”
The stopgap, if signed into law, was designed to get state funding flowing into schools and many human service programs through October, allowing maintenance of services while Wolf and Republican legislative leaders resolve their differences over taxes and spending.
Bright Futures, Barkley said, has already cancelled two pre-k classes because of a lack of funds and may have to close three others serving 86 kids within days unless its staff members agree to work without pay.
In Scranton, Kristen Kosin, executive director of Meals On Wheels of Northeastern Pennsylvania, voiced similar frustrations.
“I’m incredibly frustrated right now,” Kosin said, as she pondered the possibility of closing down the group meal service her agency provides at a number of senior centers around Lackawanna County by mid-October.
Read the full article here.
Gettysburg Times: HACC Hosts Public Forum on Early Childhood Education
By Tom Fontana
The Gettysburg Campus of Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) hosted a public forum Wednesday morning as a follow-up to a film presentation last week on early childhood education.
Healthy Adams County Wellness Arts and the Birth to Five Committee screened the documentary, “The Raising of America: Early Childhood and the Future of our Nation,” at Gettysburg Middle School Thursday night, Sept. 10, hoping to increase awareness of the need for better pre-school education and child care in Adams and Franklin counties. Statistics throughout the movie stressed how the United States falls short in providing pre-school education and maternity leave for parents.
At the breakfast meeting, several speakers concerned about pre-school education offered their views on problems and solutions related to the lack of early brain development.
“Pre-school education reduces the number of students identified for special education when they enter kindergarten and beyond,” stated Dr. Wesley Stahl, Upper Adams School District superintendent. “It also lowers the need for repeating grades and produces higher graduation rates.”
Stahl noted that in the documentary film it was pointed out that 40% of children are not academically ready to start kindergarten.
“We need to look for solutions to educational needs before children are in formal school,” Stahl said. “It’s my personal belief that we’re trying to correct problems too late.”
Adams County district attorney Shawn Wagner talked about how early childhood education affects the criminal justice system.
“We can’t just arrest and imprison our way out of our crime problems,” he stated. “Today’s high school dropouts may be tomorrow’s criminals.”
Nancy Fishman, director of the PA Early Learning Investment Commission, focused on pre-school affects the future workforce.
“We have a looming talent shortage,” she said. “We need to prepare our children early so they are ready for training in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math.”
Read the full article here.
Tribune-Democrat: Despite Lack of Funds, Somerset Head Start Opens its Doors for Classes
By Kecia Bal
SOMERSET – In the first few minutes at Head Start, 3-year-old Jazmine Dillow stayed close to her mother – away from the rest of her class, huddled nearby for a story: “Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes.”
Within 10 minutes, she was exploring blocks and interacting with the others in her own sparkly school shoes.
It’s an experience she might not have had on Wednesday, if Somerset County Community Action Partnership administrators had not borrowed money and cut costs to fund Head Start and Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts programs, absent of funds from the nearly three-months-late state budget.
Head Start and Pre-K Counts started this week for 166 kids in Somerset County. That’s a week later than it would have started if funding had been in place. The pre-K program is fully funded through the state, and Head Start is run with a mix of federal funding – also funneled through state coffers – and state allocations.
Wednesday was the first day for students, and mom Brandi Johnson of Somerset said she’s relieved that her 3-year-old daughter Syarra will have a place to learn.
“I think it’s a very good program,” she said.
“My 13-year-old did Head Start when she was younger. It really got her ready for kindergarten.”
Brett Ziegler of Somerset accompanied his 4-year-old daughter Summerlyn and helped her hang a new backpack in her locker. Ziegler’s son, 3-year-old Shadyn, started Pre-K Counts in the next room. Wednesday marked the start of Summerlyn’s second year in Head Start after the family moved from the Shade-Central City School District this past year.
“We saw last year her improvements – by leaps and bounds – through the program, and we’re so glad to hear that it is available in Somerset,” he said.
Read the full article here.
Patriot News: As We See It – When They Talk Budget, Wolf and Lawmakers Can’t Forget Early Childhood Education
By The Members of Pre-K for Pa.
The sharp elbows of politics can sometimes be bruising, however unintentional the bump. As Pennsylvania’s budget impasse stretches into its third month, across the commonwealth the impact of political gridlock is beginning to be felt.
As PennLive’s Jan Murphy notes in “Cash flow woes: Schools feeling the pinch of the Pa. budget impasse” (PennLive, Aug. 31), small business owners and non-profits who operate high-quality Pre-K Counts and Head Start classrooms across the commonwealth are being forced to make a hard decision.
And that’s this: Either take out loans (and pay the interest) to open their doors to eager young learners or close state-funded classrooms
We urge Gov. Tom Wolf and the Legislature to work together to craft a budget that resolves this hardship.
But their negotiations regarding pre-kindergarten funding can’t only be about preserving state funding levels from last fiscal year for pre-k and getting those grants out the door.
Each year, more than 200,000 3- and 4-year-olds in Pennsylvania are missing out on this once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunity.
These kids don’t get a “do-over” if they miss out on high-quality pre-k. For them, this negotiation must also be about increased funding.
That is why we, the 10 founding partners of Pre-K for PA, a statewide campaign to expand access to high-quality early learning, are cautiously optimistic that the eventual outcome of budget negotiations will favor our youngest learners.
Pre-K for PA’s vision is that every at-risk 3- and 4-year-old will gain access to high-quality pre-k by 2019.
In order to achieve that widely supported goal, the final 2015-16 budget must provide a substantial increase in state funding for pre-k.
It will take about $400 million in additional state investments over the next four years to increase access to children at greatest risk of academic failure.
The budget passed by the House and Senate, which included a $30 million increase, is a good first step to providing high-quality pre-k to an additional 3,500 children, but a $120 million increase this year would serve an additional 14,000 children and put us closer to our Pre-K for PA goal.
High-quality pre-k is a critical investment in the future of our children. Higher graduation rates, lower criminal activity, greater lifetime earnings and lower rates of special education are all connected by research to be outcomes of attending quality pre-k programs.
Read the full article here.
Uncertainty Grows in Pre-K Classrooms Across PA
Providers Acquire Bridge Loans; Classrooms Sit Empty and Threat of Closure Remains as a Result of Harrisburg Budget Impasse
ROYERSFORD (August 28, 2015)– The budget impasse in Harrisburg has left many Pre-K Counts and Head Start providers seeking bridge loans to keep their doors open or pondering closure of state funded classrooms, while potential new expansion classrooms sit empty awaiting a resolution to ongoing budget negotiations.
Pre-K providers were joined by superintendents from Pottstown and Spring-Ford school districts at Play and Learn in Royersford, in a newly constructed pre-k expansion classroom, which will remain empty until the level of pre-k funding is resolved with the overall state budget.
Without a state budget in place, Pre-K Counts and Head Start Supplemental grants did not go out to pre-k providers across the Commonwealth, forcing them to make the hard decision to either solicit private bridge financing and pay the interest associated with that or close state funded classrooms.
Read the full press release here.
Media Coverage of this Event:
CBS3: Pre-K Counts and Head Start Providers Feeling Squeeze of PA Budget Stalemate
As the state budget impasse enters its third month, “Pre-K Counts” and “Head Start” supplemental grants are among the funds being held hostage in the budget stalemate.
Erinn Rinn with ‘Today’s Child’ in Delaware County says without state funding to pay for supplies and 14 teachers’ salaries and benefits: “We did have to take out a loan this past month.”
She says that $130,000 loan will only get them to October, but she says they’re lucky to get a loan at all.
“There are a lot of other programs that are much smaller than ours that cannot secure that funding,” says Rinn, “So they’re not going to be opening their classroom doors.” Read the full story here.
Philadelphia Sun Times: Lack of Pennsylvania State Budget Putting Pressure on Schools
WRITTEN BY JACK CASSIDY POSTED: 09/01/2015
Now more than two months without a state budget, Pennsylvania schools are beginning to feel more financial pressure entering the academic year.
Many schools will be unable to immediately provide Pre-K, while other schools will take out a bridge loan in order to have those classes, according to PennLive.com.
Though most believe those loans necessary to adequately prepare students for kindergarten, they aren’t without a substantial amount of uncertainty.
“It’s a risk because they don’t know what the outcome will be and they are nervous it won’t be enough,” Pre-K for PA spokeswoman Kate Philips told Penn Live. “Many are taking loans only through Sept. 30.” Read the full article here.
Delaware County Daily Times: Early Education Providers Urge PA Budget Passage, Funding Boost
By Evan Brandt
UPPER PROVIDENCE >> Harrisburg’s inability to adopt a budget on time is having an extreme impact on day care and pre-kindergarten providers and creating uncertainty for their employees and the families they serve as they get ready for the start of school, advocates said Friday.
“We have this beautiful new classroom to educate our children, but without additional state funding, it will sit empty,” said Melanie Godhania, program director for Play and Learn, which hosted a press conference calling on Gov. Tom Wolf and the Legislature to agree on a budget — one which includes Wolf’s proposal for enough funding to add 14,000 more toddlers to Pennsylvania’s pre-K roles.
Play and Learn operates facilities in Collegeville, Lansdale, Green Lane and Norristown, in addition to its Upper Providence location.
“As affluent as Spring-Ford is, we have families who are not being served in this community who are eligible for Pre-K Counts,” Spring-Ford Area School District Superintendent David Goodin said in reference to the state funding stream that helps pay early childhood education costs. Read the full article here. Also printed in the Norristown Times Herald and the Lansdale Reporter
West Chester Daily Local News: Pre-K, Schools Concerned Over State Budget Impasse
By Candice
UPPER PROVIDENCE >> Almost two months into the state budget impasse, with no end currently in sight, schools and Pre-K classrooms are getting ready to welcome students to the 2015-16 year.
Unfortunately, that welcome comes with a strained smile as the impasse threatens many programs and puts a large toll on school districts across the Commonwealth.
“We typically receive the first of our subsidy payments in August, but that date has come and done,” said West Chester Area School District Superintendent Jim Scanlon. “Because we only receive about 15 percent of our funding from the state, we are still in pretty good shape to start the school year.”
Though the district will have no trouble opening Aug. 31, the impasse does hit it in regards to charter schools.
“There has been an impact to our charter school payments as we were expected to make those payments in August,” Scanlon said. “Without state funding, we withheld those payments, but we received work last week that the state will deduct payments from our tax-relief allocation, which we were supposed to receive this week.” Read the full article here.
Philadelphia Inquirer: Schools Cut Back as Budget Standoff Continues
Kathy Boccella, Inquirer Staff
Amanda Darr, a 31-year-old working single mom in Langhorne, opened a letter recently that led her to believe her chronic child-care problems for her 4-year-daughter had finally been solved.
She thought that for a few seconds anyway.
“I got the letter of acceptance, and I was screaming on top of the world, ‘I got a break!’ ” Darr said of the communication from the Radcliffe Learning Center in nearby Bristol. “The front page said your child has been accepted. Then reading on, I’m like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, no!’ ”
The bad news on Page 2 was that the Bucks County early learning center won’t start taking children in the state-subsidized Pa. Pre-K Counts program until Oct. 16 – about a month and a half later than normal – because the state budget standoff in Harrisburg has forced the center to scramble to find money for the program. Read the full article here.
Patriot News: Cash Flow Woes: Schools Feeling the Pinch of the PA Budget Impasse
By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com
Monday marked Day 62 without a state budget and the effects of that continue to mount.
Not only is Chester-Upland School District in such a financial predicament that it won’t be able to make its Sept. 9 payroll with the absence of state dollars, hardships are starting to be felt across the entire educational spectrum from preschool to higher education.
Lawmakers and Gov. Tom Wolf met once last week to try get talks moving on a two-month overdue state budget but a follow-up meeting scheduled for the next day was cancelled at the Democratic governor’s request because he said he needed more time to study an offer that Republicans put on the table.
Preschools not opening
The lack of state funding pouring into Pre-K Counts and Head Start is having some dire impacts on preschools, forcing some to not open on time or take out a bridge loan until a state budget is finalized.
Borrowing money to operate their programs is a risk but it’s one that Pre-K for PA, a statewide coalition pushing for access to quality preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds, says many are willing to take out to ensure youngsters are kindergarten-ready.
“It’s a risk because they don’t know what the outcome will be and they are nervous it won’t be enough. Many are taking loans only through Sept. 30,” said Pre-K for PA spokeswoman Kate Philips.
At Bright Futures Learning Centers in Steelton and Harrisburg, the impasse has left it in a bad way, said administrator Gina Barkley.
Medical insurance for staff has been cancelled, leaving a senior staff member having to borrow bottles of insulin to treat her diabetes. Five staff members have been laid off. The start of the preschool program for 86 children has been delayed for two weeks. Utilities at its centers will soon start to be cut off. And at the food bank, the center is now on a cash and carry basis.
“We borrowed over $100,000 and it’s not enough,” Barkley said. “We’re paying penalties for late payments and borrowing at high interest rates.”
Barkley is calling on lawmakers and Wolf to pass a stopgap budget to release the funds due to Pre-K Counts and Head Start to prevent the situation at preschools like hers from worsening until they can work out a final budget agreement.
“They think it’s just okay and when it’s over, they’ll give us retroactive money and maybe us to bill for interest payments. They don’t realize that doesn’t take care of the collateral damage that is happening now,” Barkley said.
Schools experiencing cash flow woes
At the school district and charter school level, cash-flow issues are starting to arise – and not just at Chester-Upland.
The absence of state funding has led the Pennsylvania School Boards Association to offer a controversial legal opinion to help free up some money for school districts.
The group has advised districts that is it okay to hold off on paying the employer’s contribution to the Public School Employees’ Retirement System and the state share of money that a district pays to charter schools until a state budget gets down.
Read the full article here.
