Philadelphia Inquirer: Schools Cut Back as Budget Standoff Continues
Kathy Boccella, Inquirer Staff Writer
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.
For Darr, who works for a home-care agency, the fall forecast now calls for six additional weeks of frustration as she scrambles to find babysitting for her daughter, perhaps with relatives or in more expensive, nonsubsidized child-care facilities.
The pre-K woes at Radcliffe are an early example of how the state’s political gridlock is starting to affect education. Officials say the problem is only going to get worse as the failure to pass a statewide budget, which includes education aid, is about to enter its third month.
The uncertainty is already starting to wear on school district administrators, who are dipping into reserve funds, putting freezes on new hires, and starting to ponder their next moves if the gridlock continues into the fall.
Gov. Wolf and the Republican leaders who control the legislature canceled the latest round of planned talks last week and didn’t set a date to resume. Wolf wants the legislature to give him an additional $400 million in education funding next year – he proposes generating it through new and increased taxes – while Republicans want the governor to consider privatizing the state liquor store system and reforming the public pension system.
Last week, the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (PASBO) mourned what it called Red Thursday, the day that roughly $1 billion in the first large installment of basic state education aid normally would have been delivered if Wolf and state lawmakers had been able to reach a budget deal.
“Unfortunately it’s a guessing game because there’s no way to predict when” the budget impasse will be lifted, said Jay Himes, the executive director of the school business officials’ group. “People are getting more and more worried whether they will have adequate recourse to open schools and keep them open.”
‘Really scraping’
Most officials say the hardest initial impacts of Pennsylvania’s budget woes have been on prekindergarten programs, especially slots that the state is expecting to finance through Pre-K Counts that subsidize learning for children from working-class families.
In Bristol Borough, Radcliffe owner Christine DeLuca said that 20 of her 100 students are financed through Pre-K Counts and that while she’s been able to obtain a partial line of credit, she won’t be able to take those students until October.
“Some communities are not affected. They have the funds. They have the backup,” said DeLuca, who has owned the learning center for 24 years. “These poor communities, they’re really scraping to support these families.”
“It’s so frustrating,” said Darr, whose daughter was cared for over the summer by a high schooler who won’t be available. “I have another month and half to find out what to do with my child full time.”
On Friday, advocates for expanding pre-K learning held a news conference at a newly constructed facility for educating 3- and 4-year-olds in Royersford called Play and Learn. They said it would sit empty until lawmakers take action in Harrisburg.
Erin Rinn, the community relations director for Today’s Child Learning Centers, a major provider of pre-K instruction across Delaware County, said the money that normally pays its 13 teachers – roughly $98,000 a month in state funding – hasn’t come for July or August. That hasn’t translated into program cuts – for now.
“We’re getting ready to start up the school year again in September and had to get an extended line of credit from our bank in order to keep everything going the way it should be,” Rinn said.
Today’s Child is also continuing its food program, which comes from a separate, $46,000-a-month federally funded line item that is administered by the state and is now on hold.
“For some of the children in the program, that’s the best meal of the day,” Rinn said. “They go home and are eating Cheetos and Doritos.”
Posted: Friday, August 28, 2015 10:00 am
By ALEX DAVIS Era Reporter a.davis@bradfordera.com
Whether the state would fund more preschool opportunities across McKean and Potter counties remains in question as the state budget impasse enters its third month next week.
Officials at the Seneca Highlands Intermediate Unit 9 are hoping for grant money to pay for the expansion of Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts programs at four school districts and to bring programs to two other districts, said Janice Vicini, director of early intervention program at the IU9. The money is being requested from the state Department of Education.
“In the near term, without a state budget in place, state 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, operate off reserves or other funding sources or close state-funded classrooms altogether,” said Mission: Readiness Pennsylvania State director Steve Doster, who is a partner in the Pre-K for PA Campaign effort in advocating for high-quality preschool access for all children.
It was not immediately clear which expanded and new preschool programs are operating locally. But in an interview last week with The Era, one official from Oswayo Valley School District (Shinglehouse) in Potter County said a new pre-kindergarten program would be moving forward — even without the state funding.
Leaders crafted the IU9 grant application with knowing how vital it is reach children 3- to 5-years-old, Vicini said. Research shows that 90 percent of a child’s brain is developed in those early years, she said.
“And we want to make sure that our kids in our rural areas have the same opportunities as other kids across Pa.,” Vicini said.
There is a definite need for more pre-schooling in the region, according to information provided by Doster.
As a matter of fact, more than 850 children across McKean and Potter counties do not have access to high-quality preschool, he pointed out. Breaking the data down, 591 of 1,008 children in McKean County lack access to preschool; in Potter County that number is 268 children of 400 without access to pre-kindergarten.
“The Pre-K for PA campaign believes that high-quality pre-K should be available to all children — beginning with those most in need,” he said. “To accomplish this Pennsylvania needs to aggressively ramp up its investments over the next four years by about $400 million.”
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.”
