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STATE BUDGET UPDATE
Budget decisions impact what happen in the classroom.

On Tuesday, the Governor released the third budget of his tenure urging the legislature to "act now" on many of his proposals. We've been taking a look and while there's a lot still left to be figured out, there are some increases in funding that should help classroom teachers and students in Pittsburgh. Sadly, these funding increases do not get education funding back to the levels they were in 2010-2011, nor do they meet the needs identified for state spending on education laid out in the Costing-Out study of 2007.


Budget highlights

Increase to Basic Education Funding:
This year, there is an increase of $90 million in funding to the basic education subsidy, an increase of 1.7% over last year. These funds will go directly to districts and we hope into classrooms. 

Increases to Early Learning, Child Care and Child Welfare Funding: Increases to funding in Pre-K Counts ($4.5 millon), Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program ($1.9 million) and child care funding ($7.1 million for low income families) will allow more children to attend high quality pre-kindergarten programs and help ensure more students arrive to kindergarten ready to learn. In addition, county child welfare services will see additional financial support ($23.3 million) to be able to serve our most vulnerable families and ensure that more of our children live in stable homes.

Increases to funding in improving feedback and evaluation of teachers: The budget provides more than $6.6 million in state and federal dollars to implement Pennsylvania's system for evaluating educators and provides an additional $3.77 million to help develop meaningful assessments to better measure student progress and readiness for post-secondary education.

Big question marks

Pension reforms: The governor has proposed significant changes to the system of public pensions for teachers. (Read more here). There is real reason to be concerned about the impact of increased pension contributions on PPS' and other districts' budgets, but these reform proposals still leave significant costs unfunded and could diminish the ability of Pittsburgh Public Schools and other districts to provide quality programs and services to our students.

Passport for Learning Block Grant: The Governor is proposing creating an education block grant program with money going towards school safety, programs to get children reading by 3rd grade, and STEM education that is contingent upon the sale of state controlled liquor stores. These funds could be helpful in the classroom, but any new revenue to schools (and any lost revenue from state liquor stores) must be from a sustainable funding stream that Pittsburgh Public Schools and other districts can rely on to provide excellent and equitable education for years to come.

Special education:
As this line item remains level funded (and has been about the same for the last six years)  many districts are not receiving adequate resources from the state to be able to provide an appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment. The legislature must look at ways  to create a better formula to ensure equity for children who need additional support to be successful in school.

We will continue to provide updates on the process and our thoughts on what this budget means for Pittsburgh's kids in the coming weeks. 
WHAT IS A+ SCHOOLS DOING?

 

 

Today, A+ Schools will be in Harrisburg with the Pennsylvania School Funding Campaign to learn more about the budget from budget experts and to discuss with public education supporters from across the state the potential impacts of the proposed 2013-2014 budget.

 

We will keep you posted on what we learn and how you can get involved.

WHAT YOU CAN DO.

 

Get informed: Over the next few weeks, you should get informed about what's happening with the budget so you can be an effective advocate for children.  Here are some organizations with their finger on the pulse of what's happening in Harrisburg