Education Subsidy Cuts by District/State Budget Coverage/Mandate Relief Editorial

According to Sharon Ward of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: “…Funding for both pre-k-12 and higher education was cut substantially.  In addition to basic education line item reduction, the budget eliminates accountability block grants, the education assistance tutoring program, and it also eliminates charter school reimbursement, so districts would face an additional cut.”

Basic education: down $549.9 million

ABG: eliminated $259.4 million

EAP: eliminated $47.6 million

Charter school reimbursement: $224.1 million

That’s just over a billion dollars.

Proposed Education Subsidy Reductions by County and School District

Spreadsheet showing the education subsidy reductions by school district under the proposed budget

http://www.abc27.com/Global/link.asp?L=479102

 

Statewide Coverage of Education Budget

Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Harrisburg Patriot News and Allentown Morning Call

http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2011/03/statewide-reaction-to-proposed.html

Mandate relief: Schools, counties need help to make budget

Published: Tuesday, March 08, 2011, 5:51 AM

By Patriot-News Editorial Board

Given the talk of a $1 billion cut in public education funding, many districts are fearful they will be expected to balance their budgets with less state funds, not raise taxes and at the same time meet all their state and federal requirements. As one school official put it to the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, school districts were once looking for dollars, then searching for dimes and now are scrounging for pennies.

Yet here are requirements added to school districts’ to-do list in just the last decade, according to PSBA: No Child Left Behind, bullying prevention, anti-harassment policies, expanding early child care, elevator and escalator safety instruction, body mass index evaluation, organ donor education, personal financial literacy, entrepreneurial and innovation skills development, media literacy development, contextual learning skill development, health and wellness programs, and demands for meeting Race to the Top goals.

http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2011/03/mandate_relief_schools_countie.html#incart_hbx