On
February 7th, Governor Corbett presented his first draft of the
2012-2013 budget. The Governor touted
increased education funding for K-12 by 3.7%, legislature decried cuts in basic
education subsidy. What does the data
substantiate for our District?
Beginning this fiscal year, 2012-13, the Governor combined funding for basic education,
school employees social security and transportation for public, nonpublic,
charter and IU students into one line item entitled, “Student Achievement
Education Block Grant”, (SAEBG) to provide school districts with more
flexibility in their operations.
The
budgetary data for WCASD is summarized below:
2011-2012 2012-2013
SAEBG $ 14,516,461 $ 14,678,343
Special
Ed $ 5,028,002 $ 5,028,002
PSERs $ 3,834,909 $
6,026,432
Total $23,379,372 $25,732,777
A
quick calculation using the Governor’s formula indicates SAEBG funding
increased by 1% from last year and our PSERs funding increased 57%, the State’s
mandatory contribution, with special education flat funded. However, the data does not include the loss
of an accountability block grant of $126,662 nor does it return funding
eliminated in 2011-2012 for charter school reimbursements of $1,478,000. Taking the loss of $126,662 into account, the
adjusted increase in state funding is $35,220 or a 0.15% increase year over
year. The governor has shifted all
funding for charter schools to the local level.
WCASD anticipates $7.7 million for charter schools expense in
2012-2013. The long-term impact of block
grant funding raises concerns that state funding will not keep pace with actual
expenditures. The Governor is
effectively shifting more responsibility to the local districts for public
education funding. This could be
problematic for WCASD in the long term if our current Board maintains we can
continue to balance the budget through expense cuts and non-property tax
revenues. The goal of WCASD should be to continue the work of a strong district
without weakening it through cuts in staff and programs.
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