Public school districts in Schuylkill County that undertook major construction projects in recent years are frustrated by the governor’s decision to veto a plan to distribute reimbursement funding through its PlanCon program.
On Tuesday, Gov. Tom Wolf’s veto message was officially sent to the House. On Wednesday, Sen. David G. Argall, R-29, said the governor’s March 25 veto of House Bill 1327 will cost school districts in Schuylkill County more than $3,300,000 in reimbursement for construction projects.
There were many reasons why Wolf vetoed House Bill 1327, Jeffrey Sheridan, the governor’s press secretary, said Wednesday.
“Article XVII-E.2 pertains to PlanCon and authorizes up to $2.5 billion in new bond debt that would be prohibitively costly to issue due to inflated debt costs resulting from the lack of any concrete steps in the current budget to address the structural deficit,” Sheridan said.
“PlanCon is a state-funded program. It receives funding through the ‘Authority Rentals and Sinking Fund Requirements’ appropriation in the state budget. Reimbursements will be distributed when the General Assembly appropriates the funds for the program,” Casey Smith, deputy communications director for the state Department of Education, said Thursday.
“Currently, in the Republican budget, there are no 2015-16 funds appropriated for the program. Therefore, school districts with approved leases and payments due in 2015-16 are not able to be reimbursed due to the lack of funds. In addition, the program has a backlog of new projects awaiting the availability of funds,” Smith said.
Argall said House Bill 1327, also known as the budget-related Fiscal Code, included the following reimbursements for the following local school districts:
• Blue Mountain Area School District, $623,819.65
• Mahanoy Area School District, $325,905.40
• Minersville Area School District, $324,060.09
• North Schuylkill School District, $278,670.42
• Pine Grove Area School District, $66,239.04
• Schuylkill Haven Area School District, $431,301.01
• Shenandoah Valley School District, $1,051,839.26
• Tamaqua Area School District, $194,148.97
• Tri-Valley Area School District, $69,577.71
On April 4, Schuylkill Haven Area Superintendent Lorraine Felker and two members of that school district’s board of directors met with state Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-124, and state Rep. Mike Tobash, R-125, in Harrisburg on the issue.
Tobash said legislators will have to come up with a new bill in an effort to release the PlanCon funding.
“I think next week at this time we’ll have a draft, and hopefully something that has been voted on and is moving through the process,” Tobash said Thursday.
“Under previous law, our school districts had every reason to expect this funding, which is why I voted to release these dollars to the school districts. Unfortunately, the governor’s veto will require school districts to wait even longer. I’m hopeful that we can resolve this issue soon,” Argall said Wednesday.
“I stand ready to go back to Harrisburg at a moment’s notice to vote in favor of PlanCon funding. Our schools need it,” State Rep. Neal P. Goodman, D-123, said Thursday.
“But let’s all remember how we got here. Corbett started the mess when he slashed PlanCon funding in 2011. And if the Republicans are serious about funding it now, then why did they eliminate PlanCon line items in their budgets or fail to put it in the latest version of the Fiscal Code? Why haven’t they given us a plan for how they are going to pay for the billions in bonds they want to take out? A plan to authorize bonds without a plan to pay for them is not a plan at all. We can’t keep promising spending without saying how we are going to pay for it. That’s why we have a $2 billion deficit and why the bond rating agencies keep downgrading the state,” Goodman said.
Schuylkill Haven Area
Schuylkill Haven Area’s anticipated reimbursement is based on several projects done going back to 1997 renovations and up through the 2008 addition, Felker said.
“The construction project was done in 2009, an addition was added to the high school with five classrooms and the district office space. Office space does not qualify for reimbursement, but the classroom space did. We have received our scheduled reimbursements each year until now,” Felker said.
In Harrisburg on Monday, district officials wanted to make two main points.
“One of our two main points was to stress how important it was for our schools to have the PlanCon funding resolved. We anticipate reimbursement of $430,431 in 2015-16 and $363,000 in 2016-17. This is about 4.5 percent of our overall budget. It represents a shortfall equivalent to about one month’s payroll expenditures for our staff,” Felker said Tuesday.
“Our second concern is the inequities in resources available to our students. The average per pupil expenditure in the state is about $13,500. This is not the highest, but the average. There are districts with per pupil expenditures well over $20,000. Our per pupil expenditures are about $8,800, among the lowest in the state. And yet, we are all expected to provide the same high-quality educational opportunity for our students. While I agree that throwing more money at schools doesn’t solve the problem, we feel strongly that all students across the state should have access to the same resources, including up-to-date educational material, access to suitable technology, same student-teacher ratios, same educational supportive services for struggling students, et cetera,” Felker said.
Saint Clair Area
Meanwhile, Saint Clair Area is also mired in the process.
In 2012, Saint Clair Area embarked on an $8.8 million project to expand its elementary/middle school at 227 S. Mill St.. The total project cost was $11.5 million.
“Two-thirds of that was renovation. We updated the existing structure to bring everything up to code, fixed a roof that had leaks, we had a cafeteria floor that was sinking, so we fixed all that and then put on an addition of eight classrooms,” Jason S. Bendle, Saint Clair Area Elementary/Middle School superintendent/principal, said Monday.
Saint Clair Area wasn’t included in the list of districts affected by HB 1327 because it hasn’t yet received “Part H approval,” Bendle said Wednesday.
According to the website for the state Department of Education, Saint Clair Area is No. 7 on the list of “PlanCon Projects Awaiting Part H Approval and Availability of Funds.”
And this week, Bendle wasn’t sure when the district would be given that approval.
“The cumulative total the commonwealth owes the district as of this school year is $547,440.61. They should have started making payments to us in school year 2012-13,” Bendle said.
Wolf’s veto message
On March 25, Wolf released to the state House of Representatives a list of reasons why he vetoed HB 1327. They include the following:
• “This bill would continue a basic education funding distribution that I believe is one of the most inequitable in the nation. For instance, the bill’s provisions permit the reduction of funds to certain school districts, which would otherwise be available, based solely on how the districts were funded earlier this year. My veto of this bill ensures that the school districts will not be subject to this undeserved treatment from a funding perspective,” Wolf said.
• “Another reason for this veto concerns the $2.5 billion bond issuance provided under the bill. One aspect of this issuance is that it will occur without addressing the structural budget deficit. This is not a responsible course of action. As a result, I cannot authorize this policy as it (sic) not sensible for the commonwealth to issue these bonds until we meaningfully address the structural deficit,” Wolf said.