Video of the 2016 PMEA Advocacy Day Press Conference in Harrisburg.
Author: Mark Despotakis
Governor Wolf Presents 2016-2017 Budget Proposal
by Mark Despotakis, PMEA Advancement of Music Education Council Chair
On Tuesday, Februrary 9, 2016, Governor Wolf presented his budget proposal for 2016-2017.
It’s somewhat strange to see a budget proposal put out there for a new year when the budget for the current year hasn’t been fully signed. It’s not something we’ve seen in recent years and the Shapp administration may be the last time two budgets were in the works at the same time.
It’s important to note that Wolf’s proposed budget is incumbent on the 15-16 budget being fully funded to the “framework” agreement. You may recall at the end of December 2015, Governor Wolf signed into law parts of a non-“framework” budget agreed to by the general assembly. However, Wolf vetoed parts of that budget and only provided for roughly six months of funding to schools in Pennsylvania. The budget Wolf has presented for 2016-2017 assumes the passage of the full “framework” budget. That “framework” agreement would have put $377 million additional dollars into education. House and Senate leaders both say the “framework” deal is dead and off the table. Also, the idea of compromise seems more distant than ever. Wolf’s budget address was light on details but heavy on scolding members of the general assembly. That probably won’t go far in trying to get both sides of the aisle to come together and compromise.
In addition to that, some have speculated there will be one compromise bringing together the 15-16 and 16-17 budgets. After hearing both sides of the aisle react to Tuesday’s budget proposal, that doesn’t seem likely.
Here’s some of the highlights of proposals in Wolf’s 16-17 budget:
■ Boosting the personal income tax rate from 3.07 percent to 3.4 percent; this would yield an estimated $1.36 billion for the state next fiscal year
■ Applying the sales tax to basic cable television, movie theater tickets and digital downloads and limit a vendor discount, bringing in an estimated $414 million
■ Enacting a severance tax of 6.5 percent on the extraction of natural gas, raising an estimated $217 million
■ Adding $1 per pack to the cigarette tax, generating an estimated $468 million, and taxing the wholesale price of other tobacco products, generating an estimated $136 million
The governor’s budget proposal would make big increases to education spending. Wolf proposes:
■ Adding $377 million in the current fiscal year to the main funding line for K-12 education, then adding $200 million to the basic education subsidy for the fiscal year that begins July 1 (The $200 million 16-17 basic education subsidy would be distributed based on the bi-partisan Basic Education Funding Commission formula)
■ A $60 million increase this year for early childhood education, and a $60 million increase next year
■ Adding $50 million in special education funding for next fiscal year on top of additional funding he is still seeking for the current year
■ Five percent increases in the current fiscal year and next fiscal year for community colleges, the universities of the State System of Higher Education and the state-related universities
Other major initiatives included in Tuesday’s proposal:
■ An increase in the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.15 an hour
■The 2016-17 budget implements the recommendations of the Special Education Funding Commission by adjusting charter school reimbursements to better reflect actual costs of educating students with special needs
■The current School Performance Profile (SPP) system will be revised so that it does not too heavily rely on test scores
■The formula for funding cyber charter schools would be modified
There are many other initiatives in the budget proposal and I’ve outlined only some of them that are most relevant to music educators.
It’s also important to note that we’re in an election year where all 203 members of the House and 25 members of the Senate are up for election. That makes a sticky situation for getting any major changes done – especially potential tax hikes. It’s not likely we’ll see any serious action on the 16-17 budget (and possibly the remaining 15-16 budget) until after the primary election.
PMEA will continue to monitor the budget situation especially as we near PMEA’s Advocacy Day on March 30th. We will provide more updates and ask for your assistance to get a state budget signed into law that funds education fairly which can lead to the expansion and/or restoration of student music opportunities in Pennsylvania’s schools.
Advocacy Update
As I’m sure many of you have heard, Governor Wolf received a budget in late December. The budget he received was not the “framework” budget that was reportedly agreed on by Wolf, the House and Senate. However, through a series of some political twists and turns, Wolf received a budget and allowed some funding to go to schools and human services while vetoing other portions of the budget. He’s still not pleased with this budget and hopes the legislature can come back together to provide him with a budget that he is willing to sign.
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Here is some further background on the budget situation. (AKA, the policy wonk part of me is coming out here.) The basic education funding portion of what Wolf signed accounts for six months worth of school funding. Wolf’s thinking here was that this would be “emergency funding” going to schools so all districts would re-open in January as many had threatened to not open. (Some say that threat was a political stunt in an attempt to get funding released. If it was, it worked.)
This “emergency funding” is far from a solution because
1) depending how you do the math, even if this budget was enacted for 12 months, it would not increase funding for education and some argue it would decrease funding
2) school districts have already had to secure loans to keep the doors open and that’s with summer and fall behind us when the bulk of local taxes are collected
3) with a downgraded credit rating, school districts may have a hard time securing more loans.
Here is the link to the PDE page showing budget information as well as a link showing how much each district will receive.
As I understand it, the budget was sent to Governor Wolf and he and PDE made the decision to use the previously agreed to hybrid funding formula. The state will still use the hold harmless stipulation and no district will receive less money than the previous year.
Two observations:
1) I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some push back because Wolf used the hybrid funding formula instead of last year’s formula.
2) One of the goals of the new funding formula was predictability. The distribution of these funds is far from predictable and what happens with the rest of the distribution is really unpredictable.
Here’s a couple of good resources if you’re interested in reading further.
We will continue to monitor the budget and will continue to pass on pertinent information. Again, I urge you to take a few minutes to contact you legislators to urge them to come back to the table to finish a 15-16 budget.
Musically,
Mark Despotakis
Chair, PMEA Advancement of Music Education Council
Summer 2015 PMEA Advocacy and Public Policy Information
PMEA is actively involved in advocating for music and arts education at the federal and state level. PMEA advocate through the organizational leadership as well as the Advancement of Music Education Council (AME). The AME Council consists of members from all twelve PMEA districts, organizational leadership and members of the music products industry. Members of the council actively engage in advocacy and policy work at the local, state and federal level. Most of the work in public policy happens at the state level.
We are proud to announce that PMEA is the recipient of the 2015 NAfME Excellence in Advocacy Award. This award is given to one state each year that has proven leadership and work in the world of advocacy. The actual award is a flag flown above the United States Capitol.
PMEA: Winner of the 2015 NAfME Excellence in Advocacy Award
Budget Update
The Pennsylvania General Assembly and Governor Tom Wolf did not meet their constitutionally mandated deadline of June 30th to pass a budget. Governor Tom Wolf’s budget proposal has been a topic of conversation for months. In addition to other forms of spending increases, Wolf proposed a $400 million increase to the basic education subsidy. To pay for these increase, Wolf proposed an increase to the state wage tax, state sales tax as well as a severance tax on Marcellus shale drilling. In addition, Wolf proposed taxing items that have not been previously subject to sales tax. Essentially in exchange for the additional taxes, he proposed some property tax relief. Not surprisingly, his proposal was met with opposition by the Republican controlled House and Senate.
Late in June, the Pennsylvania General Assembly sent Governor Wolf a budget passed by both the House and Senate. Among the highlights of that budget proposal relating to education:
- Does not adopt a severance tax.
- Relies on one-time budgetary items to secure funding:
- $220 million from an unspecified liquor privatization proposal which has not been enacted by the General Assembly
- $87 million in reduced state payments for school employees’ Social Security obligation and $25 million in underfunding of their retirement system, for a total of $112 million.
- Invests fewer dollars in education that Wolf’s proposal:
- Allocates $120 million for K-12 schools ($100 million for basic education and $20 million for special education). Subtracting the $112 million from underfunding school retirement plans, the real increase in education funding shrinks to only $8 million.
- Reduces funding for Pre-K Counts and Head Start programs compared to the Governor’s budget by $90 million.
Wolf has vetoed this budget proposal. A quick search of Twitter using the #pabudget hashtag will key you in to the debate from both sides. The political negotiations between the four legislative caucuses and the Governor’s office continues.
A few proposals on the table have included a temporary budget (which would continue payments at 2014-2015 levels) and a few compromise budgets. None of those ideas have seen the light of day. As of today, no budget has been passed. While state employees are being paid, non-profits and school districts are not receiving payments. That’s why it’s crucial for you to use the contact form above and email your legislators about the importance of restoring education funding. There is still time to have an impact on the budget.
If you’re interested in more information, please take a look at the PowerPoint PDF of a presentation at the 2015 PMEA Summer Conference relating to the PMEA policy asks.
In other news, the Basic Education Funding Commission released their plan for a funding formula for PA schools. The reports findings have received bipartisan support. The formula is based on the principles of accountability, transparency and predictability. After a year of work, the commission recommended Pennsylvania adopt a new funding formula based on the number of students in a school district, with additional money depending on the number of students living in poverty, still learning English or attending charter schools. A district’s ability to pay for its schools would be accounted for through measures of median household income and tax effort. The commission also recommends the formula take into account a school district’s sparsity and size relative to the other 500 PA districts.
Another recommendation relates to the hold harmless provision. This provision ensures no district receives less funding that it received in the previous year. While this has been a hot topic issue relating to funding and with some calling for a repeal, the commission does not recommend eliminating this clause just yet. The practice of hold harmless has been in place for over 20 years and making a drastic change could result in major reductions in the amounts some school districts would receive. However, the commission does make recommendations on ways for new funding to not be subject to hold harmless.
A fair funding formula is a key PMEA policy ask and from an early read, the commission’s finding go a long way in meeting what we’ve asked for and what so many other state education groups have asked for. It’s no surprise though after US Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Pennsylvania does the worst job in the nation of fairly funding schools.
There is little news on restoring the Fine Arts Content Advisor at the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). While we have seen some behind the scenes momentum, nothing can happen with this position until a state budget is passed and PDE knows how much money is allocated in their budget.
As a reminder, here are our 2015 policy asks. These asks heavily deal with the state budget so I again encourage you to use the form at the top of the page to contact your legislators.
Spring 2015 PMEA Legislative Recommendations
For Pennsylvania students to succeed in school and life, PMEA (Pennsylvania Music Educators Association) believes that:
Because music and the arts effectively:
- Engage students in their creative, cultural, aesthetic, intellectual, social, physical, and emotional developments—indeed, in the development of their identities as students and citizens,
- Develop students’ skills critical to 21st century learning for success in school and life, and
- Develop skills integral to the economy of the state of Pennsylvania and the US,
All Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade students in Pennsylvania must be guaranteed
- Music and arts education are offered as core curricula
- Music and arts curricula are based on a balanced, comprehensive and sequential pre-K12, standards based music and arts education
- Music and arts education are taught and assessed by certified music and arts specialists
THEREFORE PMEA requests that:
Ask #1: Increase in Basic Subsidy Funding
Pennsylvania should increase the Basic Education Subsidy. State budgets in the past have cut funding to local school districts. By increasing the basic subsidy to local school districts, Pennsylvania would serve students more effectively by allowing local school districts the discretion to use the money as they see fit.
It’s important to note that Governor Wolf has proposed a budget that would increase the subsidy going to school districts. However, Wolf’s plan to raise the wage tax, sales tax and cut property taxes among other sources of revenue are very controversial and will most likely not be enacted.
However, there is momentum for education funding reform. Few will argue that cuts to education in the past few years have hurt music and the arts. When a school district is asked to do more with less – the arts and music can be among the first targets.
Pennsylvania’s school districts continue to be highly dependent on the local wealth of their communities to support students’ academic achievement due to insufficient state funding. Almost every state pays a larger percentage of overall public education costs than Pennsylvania does. On average, other states contribute 45 percent of total education funding, but Pennsylvania contributes only 36 percent. This low state share means that Pennsylvania’s local school districts must pay 55 percent of all public education costs, compared to the national average of 44 percent. As a result, Pennsylvania’s state share of PK-12 education funding ranks 45th in the nation. Source: US Census Bureau 2014
Any addition to the basic subsidy should be distributed to districts in a way that allows districts to make local decisions to restore lost programs and/or to expand or initiate programs that support student achievement, including art and music programs.
Ask #2: Enact a Fair Funding Formula
For far too long local school districts in some of the poorest areas of Pennsylvania have suffered by not receiving adequate funding for the students they serve. Pennsylvania should establish a fair funding formula that treats every student enrolled in a Pennsylvania public school the same. Students born into an affluent school district and students born into a poor school district should have the same right to an adequately funded education.
Between 1991 and 2008, Pennsylvania did not have a functional school finance formula that distributed state funds to school districts either adequately or equitably. Hundreds of school districts lacked enough funding to provide all students with a quality education, and the state’s public school funding system did not distribute money to schools on an efficient or predictable basis. Members of the General Assembly who voted on budgets during that time had no objective way of knowing which districts had adequate resources and which ones did not.
In 2006, the General Assembly authorized a Costing-Out Study to determine the resources needed to help all students achieve the state’s academic standards. Act 114 of 2006 required the study to address two issues – adequacy and equity. The study of adequacy was to determine what it costs for all of our students – no matter where they live – to attain state academic standards. The study of equity was to address the growing gap between high- and low-spending districts and the implications for the quality of education received by students and for local taxpayers. The Costing Out study was released a year later and resulted in a funding formula implemented in 2008.
The formula, which took into account the number of students and factors such as poverty levels and local tax effort, was abandoned in 2011 when Governor Corbett took office. Education dollars are currently distributed to schools based on what each district received last year (hold-harmless), with some additional supplements based on political considerations more so than any sound and evenly applied education funding principle. Source: paschoolfunding.org
Pennsylvania is one of three states that does not have a fair and equitable formula for disbursing funding to its schools. Pennsylvania’s constitution requires the state to provide the resources for a thorough and efficient education for its children, but that is not the case for many of the state’s 500 school districts.
The General Assembly created the “Basic Education Funding Commission” in 2014. A report of their work is expected later this spring. Governor Wolf’s budget calls for the enactment of a new school funding formula by June 30, 2015, to take effect in the 2016-17 school year. The governor has committed to working with the bipartisan Basic Education Funding Commission to achieve this goal, and described four pillars that the new funding formula should achieve: adequacy, equity, predictability, and accountability.
The 15-member commission is tasked with developing and recommending to the General Assembly a new formula for distributing state funding for basic education to Pennsylvania school districts. The new formula will take into account relative wealth, local tax effort, geographic price differences, enrollment levels, local support as well as other factors.
Ask #3: Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Arts Content Advisor / Liaison
Pennsylvania reinstate the funded PDE staff position that supervises the development of curriculum and standards in five content areas:
- Music
- Visual Art
- Theatre
- Dance
- Media Arts
The position was removed from the PDE Curriculum staff in the 2011-2012 state budget.
The essence of this ask is make sure that the arts have someone available to support and disseminate information from the state level to arts teachers. Other content areas have advisors who are already in place. This position has been vacant for more than two years, but is necessary to provide support and professional development and technical assistance to educators across the state and to colleagues within the PDE. This position is critical as the state moves forward with the teacher effectiveness and evaluation system. Some roles of the PDE position include:
- Curriculum support, solicitation and review of materials and resources on the SAS portal
- Implementation guidance and support of content specific curriculum as it relates to development of the Student Learning Objectives design to be used for teacher evaluation
- Active representation in the State Education Agencies Directors of Arts Education (SEADAE) including direct access to the NCCAS arts assessment item bank.
- Development and review of arts specific professional development
- Support to arts education organizations regarding Act 48 professional development offerings
- Develop, monitor, and support professional online learning communities
You can download of 2015 Legislative asks here: 2015 PMEA Legislative Recommendations with talking points On this document, you will also find talking points to help you if you talk with policymakers.
As always, if you have any questions or would like more information, please email me at mark.despotakis@progrmusic.com
Advocacy and Public Policy News
On March 4th, PMEA leadership met with leaders in the General Assembly and received a proclamation from Representative Eddie Day Pashinski (a former music teacher) designating March as Music In Our Schools Month. Our meetings with members of the General Assembly left us feeling very hopeful that the days of cuts to education are nearing their end. The devil is still in the details but this is the most optimistic reaction we’ve heard from policy makers in recent years. Here’s a quick video highlighting the event: https://www.youtube.
While in Harrisburg, PMEA received a resolution from the Pennsylvania House designating March as Music In Our Schools Month. The resolution also recognized the work of music educators in Pennsylvania. Pictured here are: Chuck Neidhardt, a PMEA Past President; Abi Young, PMEA Assistant Executive Director; Margaret Bauer, PMEA Executive Director; Representative Eddie Day Pashinski; Dennis Emert, PMEA President; Mark Despotakis, PMEA Advancement of Music Education Council Chair and Representative Tim Briggs.
But, it doesn’t just happen. We need your help. We need PMEA members to show up at the Capitol in Harrisburg with us on March 25. That’s one day before the conference so come in a day early and bring some students with you too!