Parents - Final Weeks of Fall Session: Will the House Vote on Vouchers, Charters?
December 2, 2011
Overview:
With the Thanksgiving holiday now over, the General Assembly is set to return to Harrisburg on Monday (Dec. 5) for what could be a tumultuous final few weeks of session this fall. There are only six remaining voting session days scheduled for both the Senate and House (Dec.5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14). In addition, the House has scheduled these additional days in December: Dec. 15, 19, 20. Republican members of the House will be meeting in caucus next week to discuss what pieces of legislation may be brought up for a vote, and the caucus' position on various bills.
The stakes are high with several critical issues that may be expected to be resolved before the end of the month, including reapportionment plans for Senate and House districts, Marcellus Shale tax and management issues, and privatization of state liquor stores. Added to that, of course, is the governor’s push for an "education reform" plan that includes vouchers and expansion of charter school and Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) programs. Much can be done in that time if the will and the votes are there. If no agreement or action is taken on any of these issues, what are the prospects for these issues in 2012, a major election year? Many believe they will be much slimmer, so the urgency is greater now.
What You Can Do Now and in the Coming Weeks:
PSBA remains actively involved with legislators and their staffs as discussions continue. As you know, the Senate passed SB 1, its voucher/charter school/EITC plan, on Oct. 26 and the bill is currently in the House Education Committee. The status of any discussions and decisions regarding voucher/charter school/EITC legislation is subject to constant change, and we will be providing you with the latest news from the Hill after next week's caucus meeting. In the meantime, it is important that House members continue to hear from you and all public school advocates. Voucher proponents, including those representing private, religious and parochial schools, are greatly intensifying their lobbying efforts now, so it's important that the voices in support of public education are heard.
Please contact your House members via a phone call or email to voice your concerns and to ask legislators to raise these questions with their leadership before SB 1 or ANY voucher/EITC/charter school bill goes to the floor for a vote. You can contact your legislator right now by clicking on "Take Action" at the top right corner of this alert and you will find a letter prepared for your convenience. After completing the address information required, the letter will automatically be sent from you to your House member.
In addition, PSBA's website includes various resources on vouchers as well as resources on charter school issues and EITC issues that you can use in your communications with your House member.
Current Status:
Vouchers – No agreement has been reached in the House as possible plans are still being developed and vetted among members. If an agreement is reached, then legislation will be drafted for consideration. One idea being vetted is to replace the voucher plan under SB 1 as passed by the Senate for a scaled back plan that would reduce the number of eligible schools from the 144 proposed by the Senate to as few as 50. Further, the program would only be offered as a pilot that would expire in 3-5 years; the General Assembly would have to reauthorize it after that time if vouchers were to continue. However, that version of a voucher plan would be largely unacceptable to pro-voucher advocates, including Senate Education Chairman Jeff Piccola, who are still seeking the ultimate enactment of SB 1. Nevertheless, even a pilot plan may be better than nothing to some proponents -- and it sets the entitlement into law, making it easier to renew and expand it.
EITC -- Expansion of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program could slip by with little fanfare; and while it is viewed by some as a less contentious issue, it is also seen as a "backdoor route" to providing vouchers. The EITC provides tax credits to businesses that give funds to scholarship or educational improvement organizations and any expansion of the program is likely to be fashioned so that the majority of the funds will be directed to private schools as well as to charter and cyber charter schools. Tell your legislators that prior to any expansion in the EITC tax credit program, concerns regarding financial, administrative and academic performance accountability of the EITC program should be addressed.
Charter Schools – There is traction to move a charter school reform proposal, although it is unclear what the plan will include. The main proposals under consideration include SB 1, HB 1348, or a plan similar to what is now contained in HB 1348 with some modifications. (Here is PSBA's summary of the current version of HB 1348.) PSBA agrees that the current law governing charter schools should be reformed. Unfortunately, the proposals being discussed do not address the core concerns regarding charter schools that have been consistently raised for more than a decade including funding, oversight, fiscal transparency and academic accountability. In fact, these proposals could make some of those longstanding concerns worse.
Legislators continue to hear simplistic and inaccurate explanations related to the issues surrounding cyber and charter schools. It is important that we set the record straight before any votes are taken. Here are some of the misconceptions about charter school "reform" that legislators are hearing:
Charter School Misconception #1: School districts will be relieved of the financial burden if the charter schools are paid directly by the state.
Funding for cyber and charter schools is now provided by the school district, based on local expenditures, which places a significant financial burden on districts' resources. It has been suggested that school districts will be relieved of the financial burden if the money goes directly from the state (through the Department of Education) to the charter school. Nothing could be further from the truth; the fact is that funds given in a direct payment from PDE are simply deducted from the subsidy of the school district and shifted to the charter school.
Charter School Misconception #2: School districts save money when students transfer to charter schools. And besides, only a few school districts across the state are greatly impacted by charter schools.
Wrong. The numbers show that it is virtually impossible for a single dollar of savings to be realized in school district budgets when students attend charter schools. Districts don't save money when students attend cyber or charter schools because their fixed costs remain. They are not able to reduce teacher staff, building space or materials, and transportation costs remain the same. Furthermore, many of the students who choose to attend cyber and charter schools may have previously been home-schooled or enrolled in non-public and private schools, representing an entirely new expense for school districts.
This issue is not specific to limited parts of the state. Charter school costs affect every school district in the state, and every district has made a payout to a charter school(s). Data from the Department of Education shows the escalating costs paid by school districts to fund charter schools. In 2009-10, school districts paid $795 million to charter schools with only about $227 million reimbursed to them. These numbers grow even more alarming when considering the fact that, beginning with the current 2011-12 budget, the state no longer provides that partial reimbursement to school districts, leaving them to carry the entire burden of cost. The truth is that charter schools can and do add expense for every school district. Talk to your legislator about the costs of these schools on your school district's budget, and how that affects your district's programs and students, as well as the impact on the taxpayers.
Charter School Misconception #3: Charter schools will help children coming from failing traditional public schools to succeed academically.
This is another broad assumption with no basis in fact. The truth is that Pennsylvania's charter school performance is a mixed record and many are underperforming. While some charter schools have met the policy goal raising student achievement with innovative strategies and practices, many charter schools have spent more money to get worse results. Neither SB 1 nor HB 1348 requires academic performance targets or imposes corrective action when such targets are not met. Charter operators can be approved or renewed without a track record of academic success. Any legislation seeking to reform the current system must recognize the reality of these issues and address them.
Charter School Misconception #4: School districts should be relieved that the state could take over the job of authorizing charter school applications, thus taking over a time-consuming duty from school boards. Also, this will be fairer to the charter schools because school boards don't want to approve the applications.
There are serious problems with funding and oversight inherent in a statewide authorizer as already demonstrated in the current system for cyber charters. Duplicating this structure for bricks and mortar charter schools will only exacerbate the funding problems. Creating a new statewide authorizer to approve the opening or expansion of charter schools without the approval or consent of local school officials or taxpayers completely undermines Pennsylvania's tradition of local control and expands charters without involvement from local voters yet requires them to pay the bill.
Please contact your legislator right now. See:
http://capwiz.com/psba/issues/alert/?alertid=57774501&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id]
... to find a letter prepared for your convenience. Thank you! PSBA
