School officials fear governor’s funding distribution proposal could be ‘crippling’
McDonald
Pegg
Wallace
Local school officials used the words “devastating” and “crippling” to describe the potential effects of a proposal by Gov. Tom Wolf to amend the way state funds are distributed to public schools.
Shortly after finalizing a new $32.7 billion state budget and allocating funds to school districts for the 2018-19 school year at the end of June, Wolf announced during an event in Philadelphia that he wants to distribute 100 percent of the state’s basic education funding through the revised basic education formula.
“We’d have to close up shop as a school district,” said David McDonald, interim superintendent of the Connellsville Area School District.
“It’s our task to provide a world-class education for our kids. Not only could you not do that, but you couldn’t keep the doors open,” McDonald said.
Currently, only new money added since 2015-16 — about $538.7 million of the $6.1 billion basic ed. budget — is allocated through the basic education formula, also known as the “fair funding” formula.
Wolf’s proposal to distribute all basic education funding through the formula, however, would cut state funding to rural schools, state legislators say.
According to data from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, the proposal would decrease funding to area schools by the following:
Albert Gallatin, 30 percent; Brownsville Area, 39 percent; Connellsville Area, 40 percent; Frazier, 54 percent; Laurel Highlands, 24 percent; Uniontown Area, 20 percent.
Belle Vernon Area, 51 percent; Bethlehem-Center, 68 percent; California Area, 67 percent; Charleroi Area, 21 percent; Monessen City, 44 percent; Ringgold, 51 percent.
Carmichaels Area, 26 percent; Jefferson-Morgan, 59 percent; Southeastern Greene, 48 percent; Mount Pleasant Area, 46 percent; Southmoreland, 47 percent; Yough, 49 percent.
Laurel Highlands Superintendent Dr. Jesse Wallace said such a cut would “grossly challenge” his district’s ability to effectively operate.
“I would find it very hard for our district to operate on 24 percent less funding,” said Wallace. He said Laurel Highlands would not be able to provide state-of-the-art programs and employ exceptional faculty needed to prepare students for post-graduation.
Hypothesizing on the effects of large-scale reductions to funding, Wallace said, “We would be put in a position where we would have to cease operation of programs, class sizes would get bigger and the quality of education would diminish because we wouldn’t be able to keep up with 21st century standards.”
The basic education funding formula was enacted in an attempt to bring equitable funding to the state’s 500 school districts by applying weights to certain socioeconomic factors.
If Wolf’s proposal to distribute all basic ed. funding through the formula would be implemented, 357 of the state’s 500 school districts would see funding cuts.
The largest shuffling of money would be an additional $344 million to the Philadelphia School District.
McDonald noted that much of the funding under the proposal would be redistributed to urban and suburban school districts, the latter group of which includes many districts that have large, growing tax bases from which to draw revenue, he said. Meanwhile, rural districts like Connellsville that have declining tax bases and high-poverty populations would see funding cuts, he added.
“Where is the logic there? Where is there equity in education for our kids?” said McDonald.
Denise Sheetz, business manager at the Albert Gallatin Area School District, said her district relies on the state for more than 70 percent of its annual funding. A 30 percent cut in state funding would be “a big hit to us,” she said.
For area districts, the fair funding formula “isn’t really fair,” said Albert Gallatin Superintendent Chris Pegg, who described rural districts and districts with declining enrollment as already being underfunded. Enacting Wolf’s proposal would “devastate” those districts, he said.
“I don’t know how districts like ours would survive without putting class sizes to 35 and furloughing 40 people,” Pegg said. “Then you’re diminishing the quality of education you’re able to provide, so everything we work to try to do to provide a quality education would be out the window with that proposal.”