Educators critical of governor’s financial aid plan
HARRISBURG – School officials say Gov. Ed Rendell’s plan to help them out of financial woes probably won’t be much help. In fact, Charles Machesky, superintendent of the Uniontown Area School District, referred to the plan as “ridiculous.”
Also, a school board president from Bucks County called it a “smack in the face.”
For weeks, Rendell has been saying he had a secret plan to provide temporary financial relief to the state’s 501 school districts, many of which are struggling to pay their bills due to a lack of state support.
A Rendell official finally revealed the plan this week: Cash-strapped school districts can get low-interest loans from PNC Bank, until lawmakers approve a state aid package for public schools.
A spokesman for the Pittsburgh-based bank declined to discuss the terms of the loans.
“The governor is going to send correspondence to school districts outlining options available to them, and one would be short-term low-interest loans,” Rendell spokeswoman Kate Philips said. “Details will be outlined in the correspondence. They will be faxed or e-mailed in the next few days.”
Although state lawmakers passed most of the state budget in March, education funding has been held up. The Democratic governor is adamant about implementing new initiatives, such as tutoring and all-day kindergarten, but Senate Republicans refuse to approve the proposed income tax increase necessary to fund them.
State aid accounts for as much as 60 percent of some districts’ budgets, and now that the school year is well under way, school officials say they’re starting to run out of funds. A Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials survey found that as many as 44 districts expect to run out of money by the end of this week, and another 55 expect to follow by the end of November.
Senate leaders say they won’t be ready to negotiate a compromise until after next Tuesday’s election. That means that for the second consecutive time, school districts will not receive their scheduled state aid payment. Payments are usually sent every two months, beginning in August.
Many school officials said their districts already have access to low-interest loans from their local banks, so Rendell’s plan doesn’t change their situation.
“It’s ridiculous that here we are going into November and … [they’re] holding that pot of money hostage,” said Machesky. “Release some of it.”
The delay in funding has forced many districts to freeze non-essential funding, so now rumors are swirling.
“Some people are asking, ‘Are we going to get paychecks?'” Machesky said. “How do you dispel that?”
Some school districts said they can get by for now without state aid, but the delay is still costing them.
“I think it’s a smack in the face of every school district in Pennsylvania,” said Bensalem Township (Bucks County) School Board President Harry Kramer. “I mean they can’t give us the money we deserve for our children, yet they’ll give us a loan and charge interest. Meanwhile, we lose interest on money we’d have that we keep in an account to earn interest.”
Erik Arneson, chief of staff for Senate Majority Leader David “Chip” Brightbill (R-Lebanon), said Senate Republicans “know school districts are frustrated and we are equally frustrated.” For that reason, the Senate passed a temporary funding bill for schools last month, he said. About $4 billion is available, enough to fund school districts at about 90 percent of last year’s levels. In addition, the state has received $900 million from Congress, some of which could be used for education.
“Any plan to offer low-interest loans to school districts is wasteful,” Arneson said. “The governor could have accomplished exactly the same thing – without interest charges – by agreeing to sign a stopgap funding bill, which Senate Republicans have proposed for months. It’s a shame that the taxpayers may have to foot the bill for the governor’s refusal to take the more sensible route of stopgap funding.”