Budget Cuts: Take Action/ PN: 2/3 of voters support Marcellus Shale tax/ WGAL:Warwick Approves Pay Freeze/ MCALL: Bethlehem Cuts/ Mandate Relief

BUDGET CUTS: TAKE ACTION

A large crowd at yesterday’s Education Policy and Leadership Center presentation in Philadelphia heard that the PA House may be moving on the Governor’s proposed budget within the next two weeks.

There is a new page on the Keystone State Education Coalition website with links to a number of sites you can use to quickly and easily contact your legislators and key legislative leaders to express opposition to the budget cuts for K-12 education.  It also lists info on a couple rallies to be held in Harrisburg on April 26th (NAACP) and May 3^rd (CLEAR Coalition).

Please make those contacts today and urge all public education stakeholders and supporters (your boards, PTO’s, business owners, friends, family, neighbors) to do likewise; programs are in jeopardy: full day kindergarten, class sizes, math and reading support; libraries, athletic programs, band, orchestra, choir and arts programs to name a few.

Click here for links to take action on the budget

Two-thirds of Pennsylvania voters support tax on gas from Marcellus Shale

Published: Thursday, March 24, 2011, 5:00 PM

By DONALD GILLILAND, The Patriot-News 

A new poll shows a strong majority of Pennsylvania voters — of all political persuasions — support a tax on the gas being extracted from the Marcellus Shale.

More than two-thirds — 70 percent — of voters across the state support the tax, including 62 percent of registered Republicans, according to the poll conducted by Susquehanna Polling Research. A majority — 52 percent — say they strongly support it.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/03/two-thirds_of_pennylvania_vote.html

WGAL.com Lancaster

Warwick Teachers Approve Pay Freeze

Measure To Save District About $575K

POSTED: 11:03 am EDT March 23, 2011

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. -- The Warwick teachers' union has approved a one-year salary freeze for the 2011-12 school year, school officials said.

The measure will save the district about $575,000.

http://www.wgal.com/news/27292791/detail.html

168 school jobs could be cut in Bethlehem Area School District

Pay freeze and perhaps other cuts needed to bridge funding gap caused by governor's proposed budget.

By Steve Esack, OF THE MORNING CALL, 11:12 p.m. EDT, March 24, 2011

The Bethlehem Area School District could layoff about 168 employees — 8 percent of its workforce — to combat a massive cut in state funding in Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed budget for 2011-12.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/bethlehem/mc-bethlehem-school-budget-cuts-324-20110324,0,7281159.story

 

Senator Piccola’s Weekly Column: Relief Proposed for Pennsylvania’s School Districts

Pennsylvania’s tough economic times are calling for desperate measures by all of its citizens to deal with the fiscal situation before us. The 2011-2012 budget proposed by Governor Corbett requires substantial reductions across all levels of the state including education in order to address a $4 billion deficit. Based upon the cuts being proposed, school districts throughout the state are being forced to do more with less and make difficult decisions and changes regarding the elimination of programs and positions

http://piccola.org/press/2011/0311/032411-column.htm

PSBA Welcomes Mandate Relief Efforts

3/24/2011

The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) is encouraged by a package of mandate relief legislation introduced by Sen. Jeffrey Piccola on March 22

http://www.psba.org/news-publications/headlines/details.asp?id=1779