Lawmakers supporting proposal
Local legislators are pledging to support school funding reform in upcoming state budget talks. Reaching Educational Achievement with Community Help (REACH), the educational arm of the Fay-Penn Economic Development Council, coordinated a meeting with legislators, business owners and education officials to point out the need for adequate school funding in Fayette County.
In attendance or represented at the meeting were state Rep. Timothy Mahoney, D-South Union Township; state Rep. H. William DeWeese, D-Waynesburg; and state Sen. Richard Kasunic, D-Dunbar.
Mahoney suggested that REACH become a regional initiative.
“Fayette, Greene and Washington counties have to be addressed as a region,” said Mahoney. “Not as individual school districts. …School districts have to start working together and drop these imaginary lines. We have to get the funding we need and deserve here.”
Jo Lofstead, legislative aide to DeWeese, said DeWeese “is very much aware of the shortfall in funding and the affects that has on the area.
“He will use his power on the floor to advance the issue and appoint the interested parties to the appropriate committees,” she said, noting DeWeese appointed Mahoney as a member of the appropriations committee.
Will Dando, Kasunic’s chief of staff, said education is a key aspect to improving the county’s infrastructure.
“Kasunic will work to ensure our school districts get as much funding as they can get,” said Dando.
Randy Albright, budget analyst with the Senate Democratic appropriations staff, said under Gov. Ed Rendell’s 2008-09 proposed education budget, districts are expected to receive increases in their basic education subsidy that vary from 2 to 5 percent.
With rising costs in gas for transportation, food, building materials, cyber schooling and special education, Fayette County schools are feeling the crunch now more than ever, some officials say.
“Schools have had to cutback because of escalating costs,” said Mike Krajovic, president of Fay-Penn Economic Development Council. “Schools need more money to meet the status quo as well as raise the standards.”
Sonya Over, Uniontown Area School District business manager, said the district’s $719,165 anticipated increase is “a step in the right direction,” but not nearly enough.
She said the funding “doesn’t even touch the fraction of the unfunded mandates” required by the state Department of Education.
Over identified different reporting requirements, including projecting liability regarding retirement benefits as part of new accounting standards effective for most schools July 1, and districts having to provide tutoring to students whose schools the state marked for improvement as specific unfunded mandates.
“This is a step in the right direction and we hope the Legislature keeps going to fully fund school districts,” said Over.
All six Fayette County school districts are expected to receive increases.
Connellsville Area School District is projected to receive $970,081, an increase of 3.47 percent and the largest among amounts proposed for the upcoming fiscal year.
Frazier School District is expected to receive the smallest increase: $126,875 or a 1.9 percent increase, according to numbers released by the state Department of Education.
Under Rendell’s six-year school funding proposal, $2.6 billion will be phased in to fill a district’s “adequacy gap” as identified by the “costing-out study,” with an emphasis on districts that have the highest local tax levels and the greatest needs, according to the state Department of Education.
If the Legislature enacts the proposal, Fayette County districts will receive the following amounts in new funding by 2014: Albert Gallatin Area, $8.84 million; Brownsville Area, $4.58 million; Connellsville Area, $12.9 million; Frazier, $1.85 million; Laurel Highlands, $7 million; and Uniontown Area, $9 million, a 65 percent increase and the largest overall of the six local districts.
Officials with the Frazier, Laurel Highlands, Uniontown Area, Albert Gallatin Area and Brownsville Area school districts and the Fayette County Area Vocational-Technical School attended the REACH meeting.
Other Fayette County school officials were unavailable for comment on the basic education subsidy proposal Friday.