SHAMOKIN - Knowing Gov. Tom Corbett may get a rude welcome to the area tonight in light of state education funding changes that prompted 21 furloughs at Shamokin Area School District (SASD) just one week ago, state Sen. John Gordner (R-27) spoke out Thursday to reiterate the governor's call for more action at the local level to eliminate public school budget deficits.
He points to page A1 of the SASD budget as it appears on the district website in saying that the district gets 57 percent of the funding for its $27.5 million budget from state sources. Meanwhile, the average public school district statewide gets just 37 percent of its funding from state sources, Gordner said. And, fewer than 10 percent of the 500 districts statewide receive more than 50 percent of their funding from the state, with Shamokin ranking in the top 10 with its 57 percent.
Not only is Shamokin Area relying more on state funds than most districts, Gordner argues, it is also representative of those districts that did not heed the warnings of the impact of the loss of federal stimulus money. The senator produced numbers from the 2008-09 school year budget at Shamokin Area that, compared to the proposed one for 2012-13, shows local and state revenue sources nearly equal. But, federal money dropped from $3.4 million four years ago to an estimated $1.5 million in the coming fiscal year.
"I think (state Rep.) Kurt (Masser) has mentioned it, and I'll reemphasize - our (Republican) leadership sent out letters letting them (public schools) know that we are adopting budgets with federal stimulus money that is going to go away," Gordner said. He said now that the stimulus money isn't available, drastic cuts are taking place the past two budget cycles.
"If people are going to congregate at the event at Indians Hills, they need to know the facts and not the spin put out there by some administrators at Shamokin Area," Gordner said.
Shamokin Area School Board President Tracey Witmer said the state is not fulfilling its obligation, regardless of how the federal funding has changed.
"The loss of state revenue along with mandated increases in the state retirement contributions has created a large deficit in our budget," she said.
The elimination of the formulas used to provide state support for public education by collapsing basic education funding, pupil transportation, non-public and charter school pupil transportation and school employees Social Security into one line item known as the Student Achievement Education Block Grant "will be a loss for students, she said.
Department of Education figures show that total education proposed for 2012-13 is $10.63 billion, an increase of $100 million, or just under 1 percent. Higher education, meanwhile, could see a reduction of 19.6 percent, down $239.2 million to a new level of $997.7 million.
Larger problem
Beyond the loss of federal stimulus dollars, Gordner said public education funding's key problem involves contracts for teachers and administrators that are excessive compared to other industries.
As chairman of the Senate Labor Relations Committee, Gordner produced information that shows the average white collar worker has received a 2.6 percent increase per year in the past 10 years. Compare that, he said, with Shamokin Area's new contract for administrators, which began July 1, and includes raises 5 percent for the first two years, 4 percent in the third and 3 percent in the final two years.
Shamokin Area's most recent teacher contracts were approved June 2010, which was a two-year extension that came a year before the previous contract's expiration. Raises were to be given at $2,500 the first year and $2,200 the second, with no new health benefits. The contracts expires June 30, 2013.
Additionally, a rarely mentioned part of teacher union contracts is that almost all of them statewide include - in addition to annual raises - "step" increases that boosts salaries 2.5 percent every year for usually the first 15 years of a teacher's career. Combine that with average contract increases of 3.25 to 3.5 percent statewide, and you have teachers getting raises that are more than double of the average white-collar worker, Gordner argues.
"What has been smothering is the contracts that school districts have given to teachers and administrators," he said. "It's unsustainable.
"That's why, at the state level, the governor has said enough is enough," Gordner added.
Corbett made comments last week in which he said school boards needed to take more responsibility for the contracts they've given, and that taxpayers should be more vocal in their concerns to those boards.
Gordner backed up the governor's comments that most districts added staff from 2001 to 2008 while enrollment was declining, by 100 students in the case of Shamokin Area, he said.
"So districts were getting a lot of money at the end of the Rendell administration, even as enrollment was going down," he said.
Pensions are another area of concern, Gordner said. He told how he was a state representative when the Legislature in 2001 approved itself a 50 percent pension increase while taking along the PSEA for a 25-percent boost.
"I received hundreds of contacts from teachers asking me to support that increase," he said.
Gordner did not - and that included an irreversible decision about his own pension increase - because he felt it was too much.
He's heard school board members say they can't do anything about the pensions. While that's true in terms of the percentage set by law, he asks, "But what are pensions based on? Salary," he said.
Witmer agreed administration and teacher salaries are part of the problem, but noted Shamokin Area has one of the lowest starting salaries for teachers in the state.
Sam Schiccatano, president of the district teachers union, agreed.
"Teaching salaries in our area are not out of whack," he said.
Witmer said there was progress this week in talks involving teacher and administration salaries, but didn't provide details.
Saddened by news
The senator said he has a lot of friends who are public school teachers, and he praised the education his son and daughter are receiving at Berwick. He said he was saddened by the news of the cuts to art, music and physical education as stand-alone programs at the elementary and middle school levels at Shamokin Area.
But, he says, when Corbett asked last year for teachers to forgo or temporarily waive their raises, less than 10 percent of the individual unions statewide did so. And in cases where annual increases weren't granted, teachers still received the step increases.
"When it comes down to eliminating positions or freezing salaries, I would hope and I would encourage local teacher unions to look at that option," Gordner said.
Schiccatano was hesitant to offer comments concerning Gordner's stance.
"I don't know what the problem is, but I know there's a problem," he said. "Nobody even knows the right story. We just want people to know more money should be put into education."
As far as the protest against the governor when he visits, Witmer said she will be one of the visible board members.
"We are a poor and dying town. Everywhere you look, people are struggling. People are losing their jobs and houses; something needs to be done," she said. "But the children of our district do not deserve to have education taken away."