PAESSP Political Notes

Presently, the state is $166 million behind projected collections and the immediate future does not show any chance of recovery until late spring.

The “Rainy Day Fund,” which contains a billion dollars, can act as a cushion for such unpredictable times.

Another tough economic problem involves the Philadelphia School District. The Governor and Mayor of Philadelphia still have differences over the proposed takeover. The takeover has been pushed back until the end of December in hopes that a solution to the disagreements can be found. The Philadelphia School District has severe financial problems and if the district is to survive a long-term solution must be found.

House Resolution (HR) 42 called for a study of education funding in the Commonwealth to consider ways of placing less emphasis on real estate taxes in the funding formulas for education.

Representative Mario Civera was nominated as chairman. The following are members of the study panel:

Republicans
Mario J. Civera
Jeff Coleman
Nicholas A. Micozzie
Samuel E. Rohrer
Carole Rubley
Stanley E. Saylor
David J. Steil
One Vacancy

Democrats
Nicholas A. Colafella
Lawrence H. Curry
Frank Dermody
Thaddeus Kirkland
Anthony J. Melio
John E. Pallone
Sara G. Steelman

The report was to be completed by February 2002, but it looks like the study will not be completed until next June or July.

Even though the Governor will present his budget in February, no solutions to state funding will be forthcoming until the report is completed.

Another financial dilemma involves providing a COLA for retired school and state employees without causing another serious financial debacle.

At present, the leadership in the legislature is attempting to resolve the problem. They have been meeting and have been working with the school retirees to develop a fair and equitable proposal that will provide a fair cost of living proposal for retirees and at the same time, will not add to the burden of the Commonwealth’s financial problems. The lines of communication are open and talks will continue and may extend into the next session.

The cyber school issue will remain on the front burners. House Bill 1733 (Stairs) moved out of the Education Committee and is presently tabled in the House. Senate Bill 891 (Rhoades) is presently sitting in the Rules Committee. No action is anticipated before the holiday break.

Representative Steve Nickol appeared on PCN with the superintendent of the York City School District. They discussed Representative Nickol’s House Bill 621 – English as a second language proposal. The bill passed out of the Education Committee and is currently in the Appropriations Committee.

The bill costs $600 per student. Until the money can be appropriated in the budget, this will remain a proposal.

The issues that will have a great impact in the next year in addition to those listed above will be:

Senate Bill 687 will certainly not come up for a vote prior to the full session closing. We will continue to push this legislation – as should you – and will have the bill reintroduced if necessary.

HB 1733 (Cyber Charter School Bill) was passed out of committee last week and sent to the floor. It is a freestanding bill and doesn’t amend the school code so it is not going to attract a great many amendments as a code bill would.

The prognosis for this bill is dependent on a Department of Education report due on October 30. After reviewing the position of the department, the legislators will determine a course of action. As a “work in progress” it may or may not be introduced this fall.

There are only 12 legislative work days left before the Christmas break and that doesn’t leave a great deal of time to deal with the myriad of issues facing education.

There are storm clouds on the economic front. As of September 28, state government is 134.5 million dollars under estimates since July 1. Some projections indicate a shortfall of ¾ of a billion by July 2002.

As far as a cost of living bill is concerned, the House and Senate are working on a proposal and have met with PASR and PARSE (school and state retirees’ associations). PASR has introduced their automatic and catch up versions. Representative Jere Schuler reported that his bill had more than 100 signatures within three days.

Please use your PAESSP Legislative Directory to contact your representative regarding any education-related issues.

Wednesday, October 3, 2001

House Bill 1873, amending the Crimes Code, could add provisions to the Code that would assist in securing the safety of your school.

This bill would make an individual guilty of an offense if he/she does the following:

1) Fails to obey properly posted notices that school visitors are prohibited without proper authorization.

2) Refuses to leave school grounds after being instructed to do so by the school principal or other authorized school personnel or law enforcement officer.

3) Makes an unauthorized entry onto school grounds with the intent to commit a crime or disrupt or interfere with the operation of the school in any manner.

This bill clarifies that the school principal is authorized to approve visitors as well as serving as one of the persons authorized to direct a person(s) off school property.

PAESSP is pleased to have supported this action and you are encouraged to contact your legislator in support of this bill amending the Crimes Code. This bill’s history and full text may be viewed by using our Electronic Billroom link on our home page or under Legislative News.

§ The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) will be issuing an 800# in several weeks that may be utilized by parents – it is anticipated that grant applications will be available to parents about the same time.

ü Standard & Poor’s “School Evaluation Services” web site is scheduled to be available on October 3, 2001. The site will provide an independent analysis of all Pennsylvania public schools in six areas: student results, spending, return on resources, learning environment, financial environment and demographic environment.

DON’T BE THE LAST TO VIEW YOUR DISTRICT’S ANALYSIS. YOU MAY ACCESS THIS INFORMATION THROUGH THE PDE WEB SITE, www.pde.state.pa.us.

ü Review House Bill 996 from our Electronic Billroom link to learn more about independent schools and the Educational Support Services Program!

Fall 2001 Legislative Update

The Pennsylvania Legislature will be returning to session on September 27 to deal with a small, but important, number of issues. A retirement COLA, cyber schools and charter schools, just to name a few. Please remember, before the legislature breaks for Christmas they will meet in session for only 17 days.

Recently, we lost to retirement the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Hon. Richard Tilghman. After 32 ½ years in the legislature, he decided to call it quits. All education legislation passed through his committee. Many on the ‘Hill’ hope that the Honorable Roger Madigan will replace him – so does PAESSP.

With four candidates now in the race for Governor, it is important that our members take every opportunity to promote the state organization and its issues, and ensure that each candidate’s platform reflects our concerns.

Our governmental consultant, Fred McKillop & Associates, has met with all four gubernatorial candidates and each has assured him that PAESSP will have access to their administration. We will try to invite some of the candidates to meet with us in the next six months. The two favorites seem to be Mike Fisher, the attorney general on the Republican side, and Robert P. Casey, the auditor general on the Democratic side. This statement is made because Governor Tom Ridge has endorsed Mike Fisher and most of the unions endorsed the auditor general -- and that is vital in the primary.

As the legislature returns, a few issues will be missing from the list. School finance will not be dealt with until February when the special house committee headed up by the Honorable Marc Civera will conclude its study.

The other issue is special education, which will be addressed in Governor Ridge’s budget.

But cyber schools and charter schools will be taken up on the legislature’s return this month. The funding of cyber schools has caused a great deal of concern among the school districts. The classification of a cyber school as a charter school also concerns many districts.

In speaking with the Honorable Jess Stairs, chairman of the House Education Committee, he agreed these issues would be addressed in his committee upon their return.

The Governor’s tutoring program will begin in the fall and Tom Carey, deputy secretary of education, has had meetings with different groups to discuss this initiative. The Governor’s tax credit program has also been started and businesses have already been contributing scholarship money.

As school began, a great number of school buildings have had structural problems, mold problems and asbestos problems. The department is trying to address these problems but the children in these schools have had to adjust to split day schedules, temporary classrooms and relocation with some transportation difficulties.

Another issue that will be addressed is the school (PSERS) and state retirees (SERS) COLA. Because the stock market is not doing well, the retirement systems are in a negative interest position. It will be difficult to resolve the issue without the necessary funds to provide a fair and equitable COLA.

Please continue to call and meet with your legislators whenever the opportunity arises and keep us informed of any members that our governmental consultant should speak with personally.

Public Education is improving and scores on the PSSA tests are climbing. Let us continue to strive for excellence.

v PAESSP will strive to have a permanent cola enacted for our retired members.

v Our retirement equity legislative, SB 1572, is still on the books and you are encouraged to contact your representative in support of this legislation.

NOTE: It was incorrectly communicated to some of you that SB 1572, HB 8, etc. disappeared at the close of the spring legislative session and would have to be reintroduced this fall. This legislation still exists under the same number(s).